For the men's basketball team, emerging from Wednesday night's game against the Keene State Owls with a win was anything but easy. The two teams struggled from the opening tip to the end of the third overtime, playing one of the most physical games in NCAA history.
In short, it was a slugfest.
The Jumbos were called for 40 personal fouls on the night while the Owls were whistled 35 times. The game's total of 75 was just five short of the all-time NCAA record - for any division. And according to Tufts coach Bob Sheldon, it had very little to do with the officiating.
"I'll be fair - we hack," Sheldon said. "We hack in practice, too. They were more athletic than us, and I think they caused us to foul. And there were some real stupid ones, too."
Three Jumbos - junior guard Ryan O'Keefe and senior tri-captains Brian Kumf and Brian Fitzgerald - fouled out in the second half of regulation. The Owls made it to overtime just short one player, junior forward and leading scorer Nick Drouin.
Fortunately for the Jumbos, they managed to adapt once the overtime began. Tufts lost just one more player to fouls in the overtime periods, while the Owls lost three more.
"[The officials] were calling a tight game, but that's our job to adjust to that," said junior guard Jeremy Black, who survived to the end with four fouls. "And I think that at the end of the game, we did. We kept our hands off of them. But they were calling it both ways - that happens. That's why you have guys on the bench to come out and step up."
And 12 bench players, including four freshmen, did just that. The Jumbos benefited from some clutch shooting by junior center Pat Sullivan and sophomore guard Aaron Gallant.
"We did pretty well from the line at the end," Black said. "Some people stepped up and hit some big shots. Pat came off the bench and hit a couple of really big free throws for us in the second overtime. Aaron made a couple big ones. Guys really stepped up and made shots at the end."
No one knows the importance of free throw shooting better than this Tufts squad. The Jumbos buried all 16 of their free throw attempts in the third overtime, including six in the final minute from senior tri-captain Dave Shepherd.
"You've got to make them," Shepherd said. "Teams that win make their foul shots at the end."
- Evans Clinchy
