Basketball

Basketball

Men's basketball kicks off NESCAC season with big win at Bates

March 31

The men's basketball team began the NESCAC schedule on a high, with a 78-65 drubbing of the Bates Bobcats on Saturday afternoon. The victory improved the Jumbos' record to 12-2 on the season, and set the tone for what should be a tight battle for the NESCAC Championship and automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. "I think it was definitely a great way to start off league play," sophomore Brian Shapiro said. "With Williams, Connecticut College, and Amherst losing, it shows that the [NESCAC] is up in the air and each victory is that much more important. It's going to be a dogfight all year in the NESCAC, and to get a quality win on the road was very important for us." For the season, the trio of Shapiro and seniors Dan Flaherty and Fred Pedroletti have been doing the brunt of the scoring for Tufts. However, against Bates, the Jumbos had seven players score seven or more points. "The trio has been our top scorers, but we have other people score also," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We are a deep team, especially on offense, and any one of several players could go for 20 on any given night. That's what makes us so tough to beat." Tufts inside-out game led to many scoring opportunities down low for Flaherty, (8-16, 20 points) and Pedroletti (4-8, 10 points). "Bates wasn't that big of a team, and [Flaherty] was able to set up shop in the paint really easily," Shapiro said. "Once we got the ball into him they had a really difficult time of stopping him. He also uses his size really well and gets tons of rebounds." Guards Shapiro (5-14, 11 points), senior Bobby Mpuku, who hit three of five three-point attempts on his way to ten points, and freshman Phil Barlow (4-8, 10 points) took advantage of many good looks from the outside, resulting from the intimidating presence of Flaherty and Pedroletti in the paint. Junior Bobby MacMannis continued with his hot shooting, which has helped spark the Jumbos since his return from a wrist injury that had sidelined him earlier in the season. MacMannis shot 2-3 for eight points in only 15 minutes of action. Despite shooting only 41 percent in the first half, the Jumbos jumped off to 34-28 lead at halftime, mostly because of their stifling defense, which limited the Bobcats to 28 percent shooting in the first half and only 34 percent for the game. "The key was getting back on defense and stopping their penetration to the basket," sophomore Lee Neugebauer said. "They thrived off their penetration and dish to the big man or three-point shooter. Coach Sheldon made a point of making sure we stayed in front of our men and didn't gamble." Emotion from the locker room carried the Jumbos through a dismal shooting first half. "In the two games before the Bates one, we played very flat with no energy or emotion" Neugebauer said. "But in the locker room before the Bates game, the team made a point of making sure we came out with life, showing emotion. I think that is what kept us in the game the whole time." Bates came within two points (39-37) of the Jumbos with 15:31 left in the second half, after freshman Ramon Garcia hit a lay-up to cap off a 9-2 Bobcats' burst. But Tufts responded with a 9-1 run of its own, putting the game out of reach. "Bates did get to 39-37, but we were always in control," Sheldon said. "We were never behind, and down the stretch we just were better than they were." "I think the major thing was withstanding their spurts," Shapiro said. "They cut the lead to two or three a couple of times and their fans really started getting into it. But we were able to turn it up a notch and build the lead back up." The team continues its season on Wednesday in Dartmouth, Mass., squaring off against UMass-Dartmouth, currently the top-ranked Division III school in New England. The Jumbos resume NESCAC play Friday at home against Trinity. Tufts is looking to maintain the intensity that carried it to victory against the Bobcats. "This win was huge," Sheldon said. "The NESCAC is so tough this year that anything can happen. Any away win in the league is huge, and to start with a win against a good team, away, can only be good." "In our next game, we are looking to gain respect throughout New England," Neugebauer said. "Umass-Dartmouth is number one in New England right now and if we beat them, I think there is no doubt that we should be number one."

---

Basketball

Men's basketball pounds Wheaton, slips by Brandeis

March 31

With a narrow 76-71 victory over Brandeis on Tuesday night, and a 83-67 thumping of Wheaton last night, the Jumbos improved to 11-2 on the season and extended their season-high winning streak to seven games. Sophomore guard Brian Shapiro scored a game-high 24 points last night, and freshman Phil Barlow added 16 off the bench as the Jumbos cruised past the 7-6 Lyons. Tufts' defense propelled the victory as Wheaton committed 25 turnovers and only shot 40 percent from the field. On Tuesday night, Tufts' defense was somewhat lackadaisical, allowing Brandeis to shoot 56.5 percent from the field in the first half before clamping down later in the game, when the Jumbos' high-octane offense heated up and powered the team to victory. "We played okay defensively," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We came out and shot pretty well. We shot 50 percent, and that is why we won." Usually, the Jumbos count on the big three of Shapiro and seniors Dan Flaherty and Fred Pedroletti to do most of the scoring. While Flaherty managed to drop in 15 points, Brandeis held Pedroletti (six points) and Shapiro (seven points) well under their season averages of 10.7 and 15.9, respectively. In search of points, the Jumbos turned to Barlow, who shot 5-6 from the field and 4-4 from beyond the three point line on his way to 16 points overall, nearly seven points above his season average. Flaherty, Pedroletti, Shapiro, and Barlow were four of the ten Jumbos who scored four or more points during the game. "We just have a deep team," Shapiro said. "Some games people score more than others and last night was a great example of that. [Barlow] had 16 points and [sophomore Kyle Van Natta] also played great. That's what is so good about our team. Everyone can play and we know that everyone is capable of having a great game every game." The Jumbos dominated the Judges defensively in the second half, holding the team to a pitiful 35.3 shooting percentage. With Brandeis down six, at 54-48, with 14:21 left to play, the Jumbos ran off eight straight points to bring the advantage to 14. Then the Judges responded with a barrage of three pointers, cutting the lead to three with nine seconds left. "We got up 14 and we didn't really put the nail in the coffin," Flaherty said. "They hit a bunch of threes. We took it for granted that the game was over. We really have to close out games against the weaker teams. We will get beat by tougher teams if we have those lapses." "We got the lead up to 14 with five or six [minutes left] then they started making some crazy threes," Sheldon said. "I was a little disappointed that we didn't put them away." One of Tufts greatest team strengths has been its ability to dominate the boards. However, on this night, Brandeis dominated the glass, outrebounding the Jumbos by a 40 to 29 margin, enabling the Judges to stay with the more talented Tufts team for most of the evening. Much of this spread can be attributed to the fact that Brandeis is a much bigger team than Tufts, as no starter, except point guard Antonio Williams, was under 6' 4". "They were the tallest team we've played so far," Shapiro said. "Our guards were forced to defend kids that were three to four inches taller." "They clearly outrebounded us last night," Flaherty said. "That is something that we should be aware of. It was a little bit of a reality check that rebounding is not going to come to us. Rebounding is a pretty much hustle and we didn't hustle as much as we should have." Despite being closer than expected, the Jumbos were pleased to come out with a victory, and were glad to see that junior guard Bobby MacMannis is working his way back into the rotation, after missing most of the season recovering from a injury to his shooting wrist. MacMannis (2-3 for five points) had his highest scoring output in the four games he has played since his return, and is currently shooting a red-hot 66.7 percent from the field on the season. "He is slowly getting back into playing shape," Sheldon said. "He is doing more than just scoring. He is playing great defense." While Sheldon may have been unhappy with the overall effort, there is no denying that a win is a win. "I thought we were going to win by 15," Sheldon said. "Maybe we looked ahead a little bit because league play [NESCAC] starts on Saturday against Bates." "We probably didn't win by as much as we should have," Flaherty said. "We looked a little tired and maybe weren't mentally into it. We did what we had to." After beating Wheaton easily last night, the Jumbos will begin the most important part of the season on Saturday afternoon, when the team heads to Maine to battle Bates in what marks the commencement of NESCAC play.

---

Basketball

Men's basketball drops two on the road

March 31

The men's basketball now knows what it's like to go in for a routine physical and have the doctor order emergency triple bypass surgery. The Jumbos went into the weekend expecting favorable results from a checkup against two NESCAC foes, the Williams Ephs and Middlebury Panthers. But after consecutive losses to the Ephs (86-64) on Friday and to the Panthers (76-71) on Saturday, Tufts (15-7, 3-4 in NESCAC) finds itself on life support with only one week remaining in the regular season. While Tufts usually prides itself on effort, senior co-captain Dan Flaherty questioned the team's heart following the losses. "We need to be more intense in the game," Flaherty said. "We are sometimes lackadaisical as a team, and we think we can win on talent alone." While the Jumbos shot better than the Panthers - they connected on 47.4 percent of their field goal attempts compared to Middlebury's 41.5 percent - Tufts once again failed to excel at the fundamentals. The Panthers out-rebounded the Jumbos 36-30 and also dominated them at the charity stripe, where Tufts continued to struggle, shooting only 50 percent from the line compared to Middlebury's 71.4 percent. "There might have been two or three minutes where we had the lead," Flaherty said. "They made a lot of their free throws. They just got them really well and we didn't. That was a big discrepancy." "In terms of free throws, we were fouling back and forth, and we weren't hitting our free throws but they were hitting theirs," junior guard Bobby MacMannis said. "That was one of the main reasons we lost. We have kind of hit a [free throw] funk now." While his teammates struggled, Flaherty had a huge game, going 12-13 from the field, 5-7 from the line, and finishing with a season-high 30 points. Sophomore shooting guard Brian Shapiro was the only other Jumbo in double figures, as he chipped in 12 points on 5-13 shooting. Senior co-captain Bobby Mpuku and freshman Phil Barlow, who only played 20 minutes, both contributed eight points. Tufts was dealt a tremendous blow when Barlow fouled out with approximately eight minutes left in the second half. With the Barlow-bomb on the bench, the Jumbos were unable to find another spark to ignite them down the stretch. "That hurt us," Flaherty said of Barlow's premature departure. "He is a good player, especially on defense, he is so quick. There were a couple of bogus [foul] calls." "When he fouled out, we lost the edge," MacMannis said. "We actually played well. It seemed like as soon as the game was over we were like 'how did we lose that game?'" The loss to the Panthers was especially devastating for the Jumbos, who had hoped to dig themselves from an abyss after a startling setback against Williams on Friday. Going into the game Tufts had a 3-2 NESCAC record while the Ephs were 3-3. But following this weekend's action, the two teams have undergone a drastic reversal in fortunes. The Ephs jumped out in front early, sprinting to a 23-11 lead eight minutes into the game. Following that spurt, the Jumbos found themselves struggling to make the contest competitive. Midway through the first half, Tufts went on a run of its own, cut the Ephs lead to five, and headed into the locker room down by only seven. After shooting a poor 38.7 percent through the first 20 minutes, the Jumbos looked to improve that statistic in the second half. Instead, the second half was more of the same for Tufts as the squad shot only 33.3 percent in the second frame. Rebounding was also a serious problem for the Jumbos as the Ephmen out-rebounded them by a 50 to 37 margin. "They were a lot more physical then we thought they were gonna be," MacMannis said. "We kind of backed off as soon as we saw how physical they were." "They contest every shot," Flaherty said. "I don't think we got any open looks. They got in our face and pushed us back. They pushed us back at the three-point line. It was kind of a disappointing loss." While the team struggled as a whole, Flaherty (7-10 for 19 points and six rebounds) and freshman point guard Phil Barlow (6-8 for 16 points) managed to thrive. "I played an alright game," Flaherty said. "They might not have stopped me per se, but they made it difficult. I had to really press to get open for shots. It wasn't easy for the guards to get into the posts. There were a couple turnovers trying to get [the ball] into me, or I got stripped." After the two NESCAC losses, the Jumbos are now in a three-way tie with Bowdoin and Conn. College for the sixth spot in the playoff battle, making next weekend's showdowns at Wesleyan and Conn. College must-win games. "We want to come out and hopefully get two victories," Flaherty said. "We just want to get into that [NESCAC] tournament. We feel like as long as we are there, we are a dangerous team." "There is a real sense of urgency," MacMannis said. "We started the season off so well. Now, our backs are against the wall. We have to go in and probably win both games this weekend."

---

Basketball

Men's basketball team surprises, wins 2000 ECAC tournament

March 31

When the men's basketball team was down by five last week to the Colby White Mules with 2:30 left in overtime of the ECAC championship game, only someone who had never seen this year's version of the Jumbos before would have counted them out. The Jumbos, having survived many similar moments on the season, kept their composure and were soon crowned ECAC champions, the team's first title in 18 years.

---