Box Score MEDFORD - Freshman Adam Jurko went off for 28 points as visiting MIT held on for a 72-69 victory over Tufts in non-conference men's basketball action Tuesday night at Cousens Gymnasium.
Jurko scored 15 points in the first half and then hit three three-pointers on his way to 13 second-half points as the Engineers improved to 3-1. Tufts, led by 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists from sophomore Vincent Pace, drops to 2-1.
The Engineers trailed for just 40 seconds in the game, all in the first half, but the Jumbos hung around and had a chance to win late.
Tufts junior Tarik Smith hit a three with 32 seconds left in regulation to pull the Jumbos within 71-69. After MIT missed a pair of free throws, the Jumbos had the ball down two but turned it over with 10 seconds remaining. MIT freshman Cameron Korb hit one of two free throws with four seconds left for a 72-69 advantage. Smith's half-court heave to tie it bounced off the front of the rim to end the game.
The Jumbos' last lead was 5-3 after a free throw by junior Tom Palleschi at 16:39 of the first half. The Engineers gradually built their margin to 12 points, 36-24, on a three-pointer by freshman Bradley Jomard with 3:25 to play until halftime. However, the Jumbos would close with a 7-2 run to get within 38-31 at intermission.
Jurko scored 11 points in the first 6:15 of the second half and MIT had its largest lead at 55-40. The Jumbos chipped away with a 12-3 run to get it down to six (58-52) on sophomore Stefan Duvivier's lay-up with 10:16 on the clock.
Over the next seven minutes MIT would keep the Jumbos at an arm's lenghth until Pace hit a three with 3:35 remaining to pull the hosts within 65-62. Lay-ups by Jomard and Jurko put the Engineers up 69-62, but the Jumbos again whittled it to three (69-66) on Palleschi's lay-up at 1:51. Tufts wasn't able to get over the hump though.
Jurko scored his 28 points on 11 for 23 shooting with four three-pointers on six attempts. He also had five rebounds and three assists. Jomard scored 18 (7/14 FGs) with nine rebounds and junior Tim Butala added 11 points with eight rebounds befor exiting with an injury. Senior Ryan Frankel added six assists to his nine points. The Engineers were just 9 of 16 (.563) from the charity stripe.
Four Jumbos scored in double digts as Palleschi, sophomore Ben Engvall and Smith all had 10. Palleschi added nine rebounds and five blocks. Tufts hit just four of 19 three-point attempts (.211).
Tufts travels to Rhode Island College for a non-league game on Saturday at 1 pm. MIT is at Fitchburg State on Saturday at 3 pm.
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