Men's basketball kicks off its season by splitting the Lopata Classic

The No. 6 Jumbos kicked off their season in St. Louis, Mo., as they participated in the Lopata Classic. The team battled the Webster Gorloks (1–1) and the Washington University Bears (2–0) in the span of two days, leaving Missouri with both a win and a loss.

In the championship of the Lopata Classic against No. 9 Washington University on Saturday night, Tufts fell victim to a bad shooting funk in the first half, finishing at 40 percent from the floor at the break. The Bears capitalized on this drought, starting the game on an 11–0 run, and the Jumbos were unable to chip away at that lead throughout the half, entering the locker room down 47–38.

As the second half tipped off, the hosts continued their dominance, increasing their lead to as much as 18 with 11:35 left to play. The Bears consistently took advantage of their size advantage over the Jumbos, getting to the free throw line 21 times in the second half (36 times overall).Tufts, on the other hand, registered, only 17 total free-throw attempts.

Tufts did not go down without a fight, though. The team rallied in the latter part of the second to cut the deficit to as close as two points thanks to timely three-pointers, including a bomb from senior quad-captain guard Vincent Pace, putting the score at 96–94 Bears with five seconds left. However, sophomore guard Kevin Kucera’s two free throws secured the 98–94 victory for Washington University.

Despite the loss, the Jumbos put up a solid comeback effort against a tough team. Already with a few injuries early in the season, the team knows that it may struggle through an adjustment period.

“I’m not really one for silver linings,” sophomore guard Eric Savage said. “But we fought pretty hard without three guys that should be playing a lot of minutes with us.”

Savage had a stellar individual performance Saturday night, putting up a near-triple double with 21 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. Given the size of the Bears' bigs, Savage — who is listed at 6'3" — recorded especially impressive rebounding totals, suggesting that rebounding is as much about effort as it is about size. Savage was recognized as NESCAC Player of the Week for his career-high performance.

“Coach told us before the game to put an emphasis on the boards because of the size of our opponents,” Savage said. “I took that to heart.”

The Jumbos also received other strong performances from sophomore center Patrick Racy, who put up a career-high 20 points in the game, along with seven boards and three assists.Pace contributed 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, as well.

"I think my mid-range game is definitely clicking," Racy said. "I'm just trying to find the right gaps, the right times — and I think I did a good job with that. I also definitely want to thank my teammates for putting me in the right spots. Overall, my shot was on and I was just making the right plays."

In the first game of the tournament, the Jumbos were able to start off their season with a comfortable 83–68 win over Webster.Buoyed by another lights-out performance from Savage (a career-high 27 points and 12 rebounds), the Jumbos separated themselves from the Gorloks in the second half and cruised to victory.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with no team gaining a meaningful edge until late, when the Jumbos finished on a 6–0 run to go up 44–34.The Gorloks kept the score within 10 points at the beginning of the second half, but the Jumbos began to pull away with a lively offensive attack. Tufts increased its lead to as many as 22 points before a few garbage-time baskets by Webster pulled the final margin back to 15.

Along with Savage, the night’s top performers included Pace, who put up a solid double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, as well as first-year center Luke Rogers, whose inaugural 12 minutes of his collegiate career amounted to a meaningful 10 points and seven boards.

Young guys like Rogers have been able to pave their way to time on the floor with their skill and the opportunity given by the current health of the team. All five first-years on the team got on the floor in some capacity during the weekend.

"The younger guys definitely got a lot of experience," Racy said. "They were kinda thrown into the fire, being their first college games."

Despite leaving the weekend 1–1, there are definitely some positives to take from the Jumbos' performances as they gear up for their first week of regular season play.

"I think we're feeling pretty good coming out of the tournament," Racy said. "Wash U is definitely a good team, and we put up a fight. Obviously we feel like we could've won that game, but I would say the team morale is pretty good."

Undoubtedly, the Jumbos learned a bit about themselves during their first weekend of action, and they will put that knowledge to the test tomorrow when they host the MIT Engineers (2–0). Tip-off from Cousens Gymnasium is at 7 p.m.