Two wins this weekend could have solidified the men's basketball team's position in the NESCAC playoff picture. But after falling in two straight games — 84-70 against the Amherst Lord Jeffs Saturday and 86-80 against the Trinity Bantams Friday — the Jumbos have instead missed the NESCAC Tournament for the second consecutive winter.
Although both games were close throughout, inconsistency once again put the Jumbos on the wrong side of the final score.
"All year long, I feel like we've been one or two plays from winning a lot of games," coach Bob Sheldon said. "One or two things that could change the whole momentum — dropping a three here, grabbing a rebound there. We've got to learn how to make those plays."
Tufts struggled to find a rhythm offensively and failed to convert on open shots against the Lord Jeffs. The Jumbos shot just 24 percent from the field in the first half and made only two of 11 three-pointers.
"We tried to extend our defense as much and as hard as we could," Amherst coach Dave Hixon said. "We made [junior co-captain Jon Pierce] work hard for his points, and when he starts to do that, everyone else sort of stands and watches, and they don't run the series they normally run."
While the shots weren't falling, the Jumbos' intensity kept them in the game, as they converted 10 offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points.
"We haven't always played smart basketball, but we always put in the effort," Pierce said. "We outhustled and outplayed them, but our shots just weren't falling."
Tufts trailed 37-25 at the break, and in the second it could not sustain a run long enough to keep the deficit within single digits. Amherst had a response for every Jumbo maneuver on both ends of the court.
"We just tried to say ‘Look, let's play the second half even, forget the first half, and if we play even, we will win by 12,' and that's exactly what we did," Hixon said.
A Pierce jump shot cut the Lord Jeffs' lead to seven at 49-42 with 12:42 to play, but Amherst responded with back-to-back three pointers by senior guard Marcus Bradley and freshman guard Taylor Barrise to push the lead back up to 13. The lead remained between nine and 14 points for the final 12 minutes of action.
The Lord Jeffs adjusted to the varying defensive looks Tufts threw their way — primarily a 2-3 zone or straight man-to-man — and exposed the weaknesses of each.
"When we went zone, they were knocking down threes," Pierce said. "They were taking some deep shots and making them. When we went man-to-man, they spread us out and got into the lane and disrupted what we wanted to do."
"Running the 2-3 is not a bad strategy because the second day in NESCAC, your legs go," Hixon said. "They wanted to see if our legs could still shoot the ball, and we shot the ball."
Tufts finished the day at just 33 percent from the floor. Pierce and junior forward Dave Beyel were the only Jumbos to reach double figures, with 29 and 22 points, respectively. Sophomore point guard Conor Meehan led Amherst with 22 points, while Bradley and senior captain Brian Baskauskas chipped in 18 apiece.
Friday night's game followed a similar script. Trailing 26-22 with 7:39 left in the first half, Trinity went on a 17-2 run over the next four minutes, and the Bantams ultimately took a 43-33 advantage into the locker room.
Shortly after the break, junior center Tom Selby scored back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 45-37. But Trinity responded with an 11-2 run to push the lead to 17. The game followed a similar path to the Amherst game, with Trinity unable to put the Jumbos away, but Tufts was still unable to overtake the Bantam lead.
"They made shots and we didn't," Sheldon said. "We didn't shoot well in our own gym."
A ferocious baseline dunk by Selby, cutting the lead to 70-60 with six minutes to play, capped a 12-5 run. Tufts continued to inch closer, and after a Beyel three-pointer slimmed the lead to six, Trinity turned the ball over with just under a minute to play. Unfortunately for Tufts, senior co-captain Aaron Gallant was called for a travel, and Trinity made its free throws down the stretch to seal Tufts' sixth conference loss. Pierce led the team with 27 points, while Beyel added 16 and Gallant scored 11.
The weekend leaves Tufts at 9-14 overall, but more importantly, in last place at 1-7 in NESCAC play.
Two other NESCAC teams, Wesleyan and Conn. College, are just a notch ahead at 2-5, but even if Tufts beats Bates and both Connecticut schools lose out against Bowdoin and Colby next weekend, Tufts still can't finish higher than ninth. Conn. College, having bolstered its tiebreakers with wins over Tufts and Wesleyan already this year, is in solid position to secure the NESCAC Tournament's No. 8 seed.
