Coming into Tuesday's battle with No. 1 MIT, the men's basketball team knew that in order to have a chance to win, they needed to contain the Engineers' star player, senior guard Mitchell Kates. But despite an intense focus on MIT's leading scorer, he still torched the Jumbos for 27 points, and his efforts were the difference between victory and defeat in Tufts' 70-60 loss.
"We knew the key to stopping MIT was stopping Kates," senior co-captain Scott Anderson said. "He's probably the best player I've ever played against in my 4 years of Div. III basketball."
Kates, who is averaging 23.4 points per game this year, usually gets help in the front court from classmate Will Tashman, who is averaging nearly a double-double this year, with 15 points and nine rebounds per game.
According to Anderson, the Jumbos were keying on the backcourt duo from the start, knowing that stopping the two would give them their only chance to pull off the upset.
However, stopping two dynamic players at once is easier said than done. And thanks to a lay-up and an assist from Kates and three buckets from Tashman, MIT was able to jump out to an early 8-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game.
But the Jumbos were determined to not go down without a fight, and as they did the whole game, they responded with a run of their own. Spurred on by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Ben Ferris, Tufts went on at 8-2 run of its own to close the score to 12-8.
"We played very hard, which is something we haven't necessarily done this year," Ferris said. "We played with some emotion and heart, which was good to see, especially against the number one team in the country."
For the next 10 minutes, the Engineers, led by Kates and Tashman, traded buckets with the Jumbos. Tufts got solid first-half contributions from Ferris and brought junior guard Oliver Cohen off the bench, who had seven and eight points respectively in the first 20 minutes.
Then, after a three-pointer from Cohen and a steal and bucket from freshman center Tom Palleschi kept the Engineers lead at two, another long ball from junior forward Tommy Folliard gave Tufts their first lead of the game, 28-27. With the Jumbos' starters struggling, the contributions of the reserves were the only thing keeping the team in the game.
"A lot of guys stepped up, especially guys off the bench. Tom Palleschi came in and played well, and the same with Tommy Folliard," Anderson said. "Guys like myself weren't really playing as well, and luckily these guys picked it up and took on larger roles than they were used to having."
In fact, outside of Ferris, who had 17 points, the bench outscored the starters for Tufts 29-14.
But despite the valiant efforts of the bench in the first half and beyond, MIT showed its class at exactly the right moments of the game, countering every Tufts comeback with a series of quick baskets. MIT closed out the half on 9-0 run, highlighted by five points from Kates including a buzzer-beater three to send the Jumbos to the locker room with an eight-point deficit.
"MIT scored the last nine points off the half, and they won by 10, so things like that just won't cut it against a team like them," Anderson said.
MIT started the second half similar to how it started the first, opening up the game with a 12-4 run to put the score at 48-32. Ten of their 12 points came from Kates and Tashman, who scored eight and two points, respectively.
The duo's contributions set the tone for the second half, and the Engineers were able to keep a comfortable, double-digit lead for the majority of the period.
However, with six minutes to go, and the score at 63-47, the Jumbos went on their final run of the game, reeling off nine straight points in three minutes, five of which came from freshman guard Stephen Haladyna off the bench to put Tufts within seven.
But a dunk from sophomore forward Matt Redfield and four points from Kates pushed the Engineers lead back up to 11 with a little more than two minutes to go in the game, and the Jumbos were unable to mount a response.
Despite the loss to MIT, the game was full of hopeful signs for Tufts, especially considering their multiple comebacks in a season that has sometimes been marked by a lack of fight after falling behind. The only thing that stopped Tufts from an upset win was being unable to put together a full 40 minutes of solid play.
"We played well, we were able to penetrate the Engineers defense," Ferris said. "We just had a few mental lapses, and we executed for 38 minutes, but it has got to be all 40."
The Jumbos will try to put together a complete game this Friday against Illinois Wesleyan at the Lopata Classic.
