Box Score CAMBRIDGE – Juniors Vincent Pace and KJ Garrett combined for 27 points off the bench as the No. 5 Tufts men's basketball team picked up a 74-66 road win over local-rival MIT on Tuesday night in Rockwell Cage.
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| KJ Garrett helped the Jumbos with 12 points off the bench Tuesday. |
With the win the Jumbos improve to 3-0 on the season. MIT is now 1-2 after the setback.
The Jumbos took an early lead on Tuesday night and they would never trail. With the score tied at four early, junior Everett Dayton turned in a three, followed by a layup from sophomore Ethan Feldman to give the Jumbos the 9-4 lead.
With just over 13 minutes remaining in the half, the Engineers came within three, 11-8, but the Jumbos scored ten unanswered points thanks to threes from Pace and Dayton and layups from Garrett and freshman Eric Savage to take a 21-8 lead. After the Engineers broke the scoring run with a Samuel Bockman layup, the Jumbos got a three from Garrett to lead 24-10, their biggest lead of the half.
The Engineers would get a little closer before the halftime break. With just under three minutes remaining in the half a three from Pace helped the Jumbos match the highest lead of the half, 37-23. But, the Engineers got a layup from Bradley Jomard, a free throw from AJ Jurko and a Tim Roberts layup to cut the lead a bit heading into the break. At halftime the Jumbos led, 37-29.
It was the Engineers that came out of the break on fire, outscoring the Jumbos 12-6 in the first five minutes of the second half and with 14:19 left in the game the Engineers were within two, 43-41. Senior co-captain Tarik Smith scored five unanswered points to help bring the lead back, 48-41. The Jumbos would hold on to that lead for most of the rest of the game.
With about five minutes remaining in the game the Engineers would make one more small comeback. After a Smith three put the Jumbos ahead 63-49 with 5:49 left in the game, the Engineers got eight points from Bradley Jomard and five from Tim Butala over the next four minutes. Two free throws from Aidan Einloth with 1:13 left brought the Engineers within four, 68-64. But, the Jumbos were able to hold on for the 74-66 win.
Pace was the point leader for the Jumbos with 15 and he added six rebounds. Smith finished with 13 points and six rebounds, Garrett with 12 points and senior co-captain Tom Palleschi with nine points and nine rebounds along with two blocks.
For the Engineers Jomard finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. Brockman helped with 13 points off the bench and Butala added ten points and six rebounds.
The Engineers will be back in action on Saturday when they host Sarah Lawrence with a 2 pm scheduled start. The Jumbos play next with their home opener on Saturday against Emerson with a 2 pm tip-off in Cousens Gym.
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