After winning two games in a row, the men's basketball team felt a turn−around was beginning in a season which started out 0−4. The Jumbos headed into the championship game of the inaugural New England Big Four Challenge yesterday on the heels of an easy win over the Babson Beavers 66−45 Saturday afternoon. But the D3Hoops.com No. 23 Brandeis Judges dashed the team's hopes of winning the tournament and keeping its streak alive by defeating the Jumbos in a low−scoring battle 54−41.
It all came down to the last nine minutes, when the two teams were deadlocked at 37 points. But the exciting finale featured a 11−0 run by the Judges. Brandeis' senior guard Kenny Small, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, had six points during the stretch and went on to help keep the Jumbos no closer than eight points behind for the remainder of the game.
With Tufts only shooting at 31.1 percent from the floor and only 18.8 percent, three for 16, from three−point range, the Jumbos didn't see big numbers from their go−to shooters. Despite making the All−Tournament team, senior forward Dave Beyel and senior tri−captain forward Jon Pierce netted only eight and seven points respectively on the night. Freshman forward Scott Anderson was the team's leading scorer with ten points, while Pierce led in rebounds with nine and Beyel added five boards.
The Judges came out firing early against the sluggish Jumbos squad and quickly went up 7−0. They held the lead halfway through the period at 16−8 after a three−pointer from Small. Tufts then found a spark on offense and went on a run of its own to tie the score at 23 with 2:53 until the half on a pair of free throws from Pierce, which capped a 15−7 run. Small proved to be the difference, however, as he scored six unanswered points to send the teams to the locker room with Brandeis up 29−23.
"Offensively I think we lost a little bit of confidence that we had coming into the game," Beyel said. "And the energy wasn't where it needed to be. We didn't come out with the same intensity that we did Thursday and Saturday."
After the break, the Jumbos came out with a newfound zeal and captured a 35−33 lead on a layup by Beyel. Senior tri−captain guard Dan Cook drained two three−pointers to help fuel the 15−4 run.
Then both offenses went quiet with only two Brandeis points being scored in the next five minutes. A jumper from Brandeis junior forward Christian Yemga gave a 37−35 lead, but Anderson answered by scoring on two free throws before the Judges went on to put away the slowing Jumbos. Tufts was plagued by poor shooting in the second half, as the Jumbos were just 4−22 from the field, or 18.2 percent, in the last 20 minutes.
"Brandeis is just a really great team," Cook said. "They're explosive. Maybe we were a little tired and that hurt us. But more so, they play in spurts and we didn't answer their spurt in the second half."
"Their guys are really fast and scrappy," Cook continued. "I got some good looks from going inside and coming out from Jon, but penetration today was tough. They collapsed really well so we couldn't get a lot going in terms of going to the hoop and that hurt us."
The previous night was a happier story for Tufts, as the Jumbos led from the opening minute and shot 47.5 percent and saw Pierce, Beyel and Cook all score in the double digits. Cook, who hit a three to start the game, nailed four from long−range in the half to help the Jumbos build a 34−19 lead at intermission.
In the second half, Tufts was able to finish off the struggling Beavers, who shot at 26.2 percent from the floor and were only six for 15 from the free throw line. The Jumbos also were dominant on the glass, with sophomore forward James Long leading the 55−36 team margin with nine of his own.
The victory was the second win at home for the Jumbos and arguably displayed their best play on both sides of the ball thus far in the season. Team members will have to put the championship loss out of their minds and focus on the positives from the weekend as they prepare for their third game in four days: Tuesday's match versus Plymouth State.
"Thursday and Saturday's games were first steps in learning how to win and how to hold a team off when they're making a run," Beyel said. "We also found our ability to put a team away when we're up by 15 or 20. With that knowledge, we just got to get our energy up and come into games knowing we can beat teams and not just hoping that we're going to. We need to go in there and get our shots and do our jobs. We did not do our jobs against Brandeis."
"Tomorrow we're just going to go over their stuff," Cook added. "We just have to make sure we come out with mental toughness. It's been a long stretch and we have to come out fired up one more time and head into winter break on a good note. That's it."
