All good things must come to an end. And the high the men's basketball team felt last week after upsetting Amherst for the first time since 2003 was no exception. Though the Jumbos did not have a chance at the playoffs entering the game on Saturday — a Wesleyan victory on Friday over Bowdoin eliminated that possibility — the team was still looking to triumph over Bates and send its six seniors off on a high note. But the Bobcats put an end to Tufts' frustrating 6−17, 2−7 NESCAC season in an unceremonious fashion, putting down the Jumbos by a score of 64−55.
In an almost−exact replay of last year's Valentine's Day matchup in Bates' infamously hot gym, the Jumbos surrendered a 30−21 half−time lead. Despite a 29−point, eight−rebound, five−block performance from senior tri−captain Jon Pierce, the team's all−time leading scorer whose 18.3 points−per−game average is third in the NESCAC, Tufts didn't have enough to overcome the fourth−place Bobcats (13−11, 5−4 NESCAC). The Jumbos finished the season in the conference cellar for the third straight year.
It was Bates rookie guard Mark Brust who seemed to be the game−changer, scoring a career−high 21 points, 15 of which came during the 22−7, seven−minute run in the second half that led to the home team's victory. Brust shot 10 of 13 and drained seven in a row to help the Bobcats scratch their way back from a 44−34 deficit with 12:07 remaining to grasp a 56−51 lead with just over five minutes to play.
Bates hit five out of its last six free throws to secure the win, with each point increasing the Jumbos' desperation. Tufts went without a field goal for the last four minutes of the season.
"The big thing was that we came out cold and flat, and their guards really killed us on transition with easy lay−ups," junior guard Matt Galvin said. "It was probably the loudest gym we played in all season, and we weren't always on the same page. We knew they were going make a run at some point, and when it came, we were rattled and didn't respond like we should have."
Freshman forward Scott Anderson, who was playing his first game at Bates, admitted that the heat of the gym made him uncomfortable.
"I think, at least for me, the gym really wore on us," he said. "It felt like [I was] playing in the summer, and fatigue set in on us in the end after the energy we played with in the first half and beginning of the second. They were used to it, and they took advantage of us. We kept our composure, but it just got away from us."
Pierce scored 15 points in the first half alone, going 6−for−8 and sinking all three of his three−point attempts to send the underdog Jumbos to the locker room with the nine−point lead at intermission. Anderson would finish the game with 15 points and seven rebounds, while senior forward Dave Beyel added eight boards but was held to only seven points — well below his season average of 16.5.
Yet the Tufts bench combined for only four points for the Jumbos, while two starters — freshman point guard Alex Goldfarb and senior tri−captain Dan Cook — failed to score at all.
Still, the Jumbos continued to look strong after the break, with Pierce and Beyel hitting back−to−back jumpers to put Tufts up 37−23 just under four minutes in. Two minutes later, Bates senior guard Neil Creahan and Brust scored on consecutive plays, with sophomore forward John Squires adding two free throws to chip away at Tufts' lead.
Then the Jumbos' lead unraveled. Brust knocked down his only three of the game, and then a jumper on the Bobcats' next possession. Bates junior forward Nick Schmiemann got involved with two three−point plays of his own during the run — one traditional and one from behind the arc — on either side of another Brust lay−up. Brust then hit three jumpers during the next three possessions and picked up the ball after Pierce's jumper was blocked from 15 feet out to grab his final two points, making the score 56−52 Bates before Tufts was forced to foul.
Brust's scoring spurt, combined with some tough defense on Pierce, was enough for Bates to pull out the victory.
"The whole game we had been getting it to Jon [Pierce]," Anderson said. "And it was pretty consistent with him scoring every time, but later in the game they started fronting and double−teaming him down low, so it was more difficult to get him the ball, which had been our option throughout the rest of the game.
"They eliminated a lot of our post options, and we started taking a lot of outside shots that maybe we shouldn't have. If those shots had gone in, it would have been a very different game."
The season finale had a similar theme with many of the team's disheartening losses this year: an inability to stay consistently strong for 40 minutes. Out−rebounded 45−31 and shooting at just 37.3 percent on the day, the Jumbos struggled once again down the stretch.
The loss dropped the Jumbos into last place in the conference and marked the end of the careers of Pierce, Beyel, Cook, tri−captain Tom Selby, guard Reed Morgan and forward Bryan Lowry on an unfortunate, yet familiar, note.
"I think any time a season ends, you take what you can from it," Galvin said. "You think about it for a couple weeks, learn what you can, take the experiences with you and forget the rest. We had the potential this year; it just never developed the way we wanted. Next year is going to be a fresh start."
"We're going to work hard and get bigger, because we're losing a lot of our offensive threats," Anderson added. "I think everyone has that in mind; getting in the gym [and] playing all summer … just getting better. We're definitely going to miss what the seniors brought us, but we're all excited about next year and to hopefully improve on the [team's] record."
