The men's basketball team entered the NESCAC tournament this past weekend on a downswing. The Jumbos had dropped three in a row, and they seemed to have lost the rhythm that had earned them 16 regular season wins.
Fourth-seeded Tufts retained the right to host a playoff quarterfinal game on Saturday against No. 5 Bates, but for the second straight year the Jumbos were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Tufts relinquished a seven-point second-half lead, missed three last-second chances to tie and ultimately fell by a final score of 57-54.
The Jumbos had the ball trailing by that tally with 29 seconds left in the game. With 10 seconds to go, a three-point attempt from freshman Ben Ferris rimmed out, but senior tri-captain forward James Long came down with the ball and head coach Bob Sheldon called a timeout. Off the inbound pass, sophomore guard Kwame Firempong missed a three, but Ferris grabbed the rebound and gave the ball to Firempong for one last shot from almost 30 feet. Firempong's effort was too long, however, and the buzzer sounded with the Jumbos watching their best season in six years end on their home court.
It was an exciting contest, and Firempong did hit a three-point buzzer-beater earlier in the game — at the end of the first half, to give the Jumbos a 28-27 lead at the break. Tufts came out firing at the start of the second half, too, building its largest lead of the game, 42-35, with 14:36 to play. But Bates answered with a three and suddenly took complete control, going on an 18-3 run that ran the clock down to 5:25.
"I felt like Kwame's three-pointer definitely gave us momentum going into the second half, but in the back of our minds we knew we needed to play a lot better if we were going to win the game," junior tri-captain forward Scott Anderson said. "We came out strong in the beginning of the second half like we talked about during halftime, but then we lost the momentum again towards the end of the game."
The game was lost in the trenches for the Jumbos, who were out-rebounded 39-28 overall and 23-14 on the offensive glass.
"Throughout the season, whenever a team has made a run like that [18-3 Bates run], it's because we allow middle penetration," said junior forward Matt Lanchantin, who posted five points and four rebounds, including three offensive boards, in just nine minutes off the bench.
"Defensively, during that stretch we allowed Bates to drive through the middle of the paint too easily, and as a result they capitalized on some crucial offensive possessions."
The Jumbos struggled to close the gap, but after consecutive steals-turned-layups from Ferris and Firempong, they were within three with 1:39 remaining. Unfortunately, the Bobcats grabbed two offensive rebounds to prolong their next possession, and by the time the Jumbos had the ball back there were less than 30 seconds left on the clock.
Neither team was able to pull away at the beginning of the game, with no lead stretching beyond four points before halftime, and the Bobcats compensating for their shooting disadvantage with stellar work on the boards.
Tufts was shooting at 50 percent, while holding their opponents to just 41 percent from the field, but the Jumbos did not have an answer for senior forward John Squires, who posted 15 points and four boards in the first half on his way to a 25-point, 13-rebound performance overall.
"In the first half, Bates as a team was not shooting well," Anderson said. "We needed to take advantage of their poor shooting percentage, but we couldn't keep them off the offensive boards."
Ferris paced Tufts with 11 points despite four missed threes, while Anderson and Firempong each added 10 points of their own. Tufts was off the mark all game from long range, shooting just 2-for-16, and no one came close to competing with Squires on the boards.
"We knew that the Bates offense as a whole could be contained if we controlled the glass and limited their offensive rebounds, so that was our main focus from the start," Lanchantin said. "Throughout the game we struggled with this and as a result Squires and others were able to get second and third shots that really hurt us down the stretch."
It was a heartbreaking loss for Tufts' most promising squad since 2005-06. While Bates will travel to take on the No. 1 seed Amherst next weekend, Tufts will say goodbye to four seniors — Long, tri-captain guard Amauris Quezada and forwards Peter Saba and Alex Orchowski — who have been integral in steering the program toward a bright future.
"More so than anything else, all four guys in the senior class were leaders that we are very much going to miss going into next year," Anderson said. "The seniors led by example on and off the court, and that's what us juniors, as seniors next year, plan to do as well. Everyone is confident that after the last two seasons we have had, next year should be a real special one."
After two tournament appearances in the past two years and a top-half NESCAC finish, it appears that Tufts has the potential to continue to move closer to a conference championship in the coming years.
"The next steps for us as a team are the same as always," Lanchantin said.
"Over the summer, we will have to take personal responsibility for our individual development as basketball players and then come back next fall ready to take all of our individual talents and amplify them through discipline and teamwork. We will take [the seniors'] dedication and sacrifice to heart as we try to continue to bring this program to the next level," he added.
