MEDFORD - The Tufts men's basketball team shot 55.6 percent from the field (25/45), including nine for 14 on three-pointers (64.3 percent), during a 79-65 victory over Wesleyan in NESCAC action on Saturday afternoon at Cousens Gymnasium.
Senior Alex Goldfarb (New York, NY) led three Jumbos who scored in double figures with 16 points, connecting on five of eight shots overall and four of six threes. Tufts pulled up to an even 3-3 in NESCAC and 10-9 overall. Wesleyan, which fell to 9-11 and 1-5 in NESCAC, was paced by a game-high 24 points from sophomore guard Sasha Brown (Harlem, NY).
The Jumbos led 15-2 early as senior guard Amauris Quezada (New York, NY) had seven points in the first eight minutes and Wesleyan struggled to get going. The Cardinals did not score a field goal until Brown's jumper at 11:13 made it 16-6. The Cardinals were able to work the gap down to six three times, including 24-18 after a Brown lay-up at 5:20.
Tufts pushed their margin back up to a first-half high of 14 points (36-22) on sophomore Matt Lanchantin's (Natick, MA) basket at 1:43. However, Wesleyan scored the final seven points of the first half, including Derick Beresford's (Hampton, GA) three at the buzzer to make the Tufts lead 36-29 at the break.
Quezada had 10 points, three assists and two steals at the break for the Jumbos, who shot 51.9 percent (14/27) in the first 20 minutes. The Jumbos dominated the boards 21-11 in the first half and had 11 assists on 14 baskets. Brown's 10 points was the halftime high for Wesleyan, which made just eight of 25 shots (32 percent) in the first half.
Tufts, which blew a 10-point halftime lead on Friday night against Connecticut College, was able to put the game away in the second half today. Goldfarb scored three second-half three-pointers. His first at 16:41 gave the Jumbos a 41-31 advantage, and they would lead by double digits the rest of the way. That was part of a 9-0 Jumbo spurt that put the hosts up 47-31 after a lay-up by Goldfarb at 14:18.
The Tufts lead was at least 14 points for the remainder of the game and peaked at 25 points (63-38) on another Goldfarb three-pointer with 8:36 left in regulation.
Quezada finished with 14 points for Tufts, while sophomore Scott Anderson (Sudbury, MA) had 13 points and five rebounds. The Jumbos won the rebounding battle 35-22, with junior Alex Orchowski (Cornwall, NY) adding five along with seven points and two blocks. Tufts had 20 assists overall, as freshman guard Kwame Firempong (Inglewood, CA) dished seven and classmate Oliver Cohen (Penn Valley, PA) posted six.
Wesleyan's Brown had an 11 for 12 game at the free throw line as part of his 24 points and also finished with two's in assists and steals. Beresford also scored in double figures with 11 points. The Cardinals finished the game shooting 35.3 percent (18/51), but hit at 85.7 percent (24/28) from the line.
Tufts returns to action on Tuesday night at home against UMass Boston with a 7 pm start. The Cardinals are at Eastern Connecticut at 7 pm on Tuesday.
Game Statistics
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