Men's Basketball | Lyons roar back, overcome deficit to top Jumbos, 86-77

    The men's basketball team appeared to be on the precipice of carrying a four-game win streak into the beginning of conference play following a mediocre 4-5 start.
    Playing in Cousens Gym against the Wheaton Lyons on Saturday, the Jumbos jumped out to a comfortable 15-point lead in the first half against a team that was carrying a three-game losing streak and had dropped its last three against Tufts in the head-to-head matchup. But Wheaton, led by junior Jaxon Leo and sophomore Anthony Coppola, marched back and won 86-77 on the Jumbos' home court, dropping Tufts to 7-6 on the year.
"It was very disappointing," junior Dave Beyel said. "Even more because we'd been playing so well for the previous three games. It was just tough. Obviously we got out to an early lead. Some guys came out, some guys came in and they ended up knocking down a bunch of shots."
    Down 27-12 at the 10:27 mark, Wheaton reeled off nine consecutive points, including seven from Coppola. The Jumbos stretched their lead back to eight, going up 34-26, before the Lyons went on a 13-4 run to take a 39-38 lead. After Tufts reclaimed its edge on a pair of free throws from freshman James Long, the half ended in bitter fashion, as Wheaton freshman Brendan Degnan stole the ball on the Lyons' defensive end and raced down the court, dropping in a layup at the buzzer that gave the Lyons a 41-40 lead going into halftime.
    In the second half, the Jumbos again jumped out ahead only to see their advantage disappear. Tufts held a 63-57 lead with 8:52 left in the half, but Lyons sophomore Ryan Sasso scored the next six points of the game to tie it up. The Jumbos took a 67-66 lead with 5:23 to play on a free throw from junior Tom Selby, but Wheaton again went on a run, this time led by Leo, as he scored the next eight points of the game to engineer a seven-point lead.
    Sophomore Matt Galvin and Coppola exchanged three-pointers before Beyel hit one of his own to bring Tufts within four, 77-73, with just over a minute to play. As time became an enemy to the Jumbos, they were forced to foul, but Tufts could not narrow the four point gap. Lyons combined to go 9-for-10 on free throws down the stretch and seal the victory.
    "It was extremely disappointing obviously," junior co-captain Jon Pierce said. "One thing you still have to remember is we're still a pretty young team in terms of playing experience. One thing a young team has to learn to do is close teams out. We had a chance to step on their throat but we let them back in the game. We knew they were a good team coming in, and we let them get going and let them come back in."
    Beyel led all scorers with 21 points, while senior co-captain Aaron Gallant contributed 18 on 7-for-10 shooting. Pierce scored 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds, but he struggled from the field most of the day. Pierce hit just eight of 23 shots, including one of seven from beyond the arc.
    "Obviously I feel terrible whenever I don't play up to my own standards and let the team down," Pierce said. "I wasn't really taking bad shots; I was just in a bit of a shooting slump. It was extremely frustrating. The team was still very supportive, though. I'm not too worried about it, but I'm still taking this loss pretty hard."
    Coppola led the Lyons with 19 points, while Leo added 17 of his own. Sasso scored 15 and notched six assists against just two turnovers.
    Wheaton and Tufts both shot similar percentages from the floor — 51.6 and 48.3 respectively — and the Jumbos had a sizable advantage in rebounds, 44-28. But the difference in the game came down to turnovers. Tufts turned the ball over a total of 22 times, including 15 steals by the Lyons, while Wheaton turned it over only 10 times. Wheaton ended the game with a 17-point edge in points off turnovers.
    "I think sometimes we just get a little flustered with the ball when we have it," Beyel said. "One of the things we stress is just taking care of it, and there's no reason we should turn it over so much. Obviously, with all those turnovers it's tough to win games. But we've been working on it in practice and stressing valuing the ball."
    "When you don't value the basketball, bad things are going to happen," Pierce added. "We had five or six [turnovers] that led immediately to baskets. When you're playing a good team, you really can't have possessions like that."
    The Jumbos will now travel to Williams on Friday to face the 10-4 Ephs for their first NESCAC game of the season. Last year, the Jumbos dominated the Ephs in their only encounter — a 25-point victory that was Tufts' lone conference win of the year.
    "Williams is obviously a very good team, but they're definitely beatable," Beyel said. "I think if we come and play as we can as a team for 40 minutes, it's going to be pretty hard to lose. But again, Williams is really dangerous, so it's all about energy and intensity when we play a team like that."
    "The thing about the NESCAC is every team lost a lot, and teams have underperformed, so even though we're 7-6 we still feel we're right in the mix in our conference," Pierce added. "If we come out and play they way we're capable of playing, then I feel very confident in our chances of winning the conference."