Box Score DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Junior Vincent Pace turned in a game-high 25 points but it wasn't enough as the No. 9 Tufts men's basketball team couldn't overcome a late comeback by UMass-Dartmouth and fell to the Corsairs 91-82 on Tuesday night.
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| KJ Garrett finished with a double double off the bench for the Jumbos |
The Jumbos are now 16-4 overall this season with the loss. The Corsairs improve to 13-7 with the win.
Senior tri-captain Tarik Smith finished with 18 points on the evening, which gives him 1,004 career points. He entered the contest on Tuesday evening with 986 career points, needing just 14 to hit the 1,000 point mark. He becomes the 30th player in Tufts men's basketball history to surpass the 1,000 career points mark.
The two teams traded points early, and neither team would lead by more than three points early on. With the Jumbos up 17-16 after a layup from Smith, the Corsairs got a layups from Tucker Bouchard and Arinze Obiora to take a 20-17 lead. After a Tufts timeout, the Corsairs added two from Chris Mendes to take the 22-17 lead.
The Jumbos would not go away though, with the hosts up 26-23, junior Ben Engvall drained a three to lock the contest at 26 with 5:42 remaining in the half. Jon Robinson answered with a three of his own for the Corsairs to help them take a 29-26 lead and they would grow that lead to six with 2:18 left in the half (36-30). The Jumbos got two from junior KJ Garrett and two from Smith to come within two, 36-34, at the half.
Just over four minutes into the second half the Jumbos would take the lead back again as Engvall made two at the charity stripe to give Tufts the 44-43 advantage. The two teams traded points again for a while, and with the contest locked at 51 the Jumbos took the lead again off a three from Pace with 12 minutes remaining in the game. After Garrett made a layup to give the Jumbos the 58-52 lead with 11:20 on the clock, the Corsairs scored seven unanswered points to take a 59-58 lead with 10:10 left.
The Jumbos were close for the remaining ten minutes but the Corsairs held on to the lead. With 1:54 left in the game Pace made a free throw that brought the Jumbos within three, 80-77, but the home team was able to hold on to the lead and move to the 91-82 win.
Pace finished with a game-high 25 for the Jumbos and added five rebounds to his night. Smith tallied 18 points and six steals to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Engvall finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Garrett totaled ten points and ten rebounds.
For the Corsairs, Bouchard was the offensive leader with 19 points off the bench. Mert Sert added 14 points and ten rebounds off the bench as well. Arinze Obiora totaled 15 points and Mendes added 12 with eight assists.
The Jumbos will be back in action on Friday as they travel to Trinity for a 7 pm start on the road. UMass-Dartmouth plays again on Saturday when they travel to Western Connecticut for a 3 pm start.
