MEDFORD, MA (November 20, 2022) -- Senior guard
Tyler Aronson was named New England Big 4 Tournament MVP Sunday, leading the Tufts University men's basketball team to an 82-71 win in the title game over Endicott College in action from Cousens Gymnasium. The title for the Jumbos in the Big 4 Tournament was their first since the 2015-16 season, as Tufts moved to 3-0 on the young season.
Aronson finished Sunday's contest with a team-leading 21 points for the Jumbos, following Saturday's 15-point output in a win over Babson College. Aronson went 7-of-13 from the floor in the championship game, hitting four of his seven shots from the perimeter. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, while dishing out four assists.
It wasn't easy at the start for the Jumbos, as Endicott led by as many as seven points with 3:51 to go in the first half after a lay-up by Cam Homsey. The Jumbos would rally back over the last four minutes of the opening stanza outscoring the Gulls 11-2, taking a 37-35 lead into the break after a triple from
Khai Champion with 33 seconds left in the half.
The first period featured eight lead changes and four tie scores, as Aronson tallied 13 points in the first half while senior
Dylan Thoerner also tallied 10 points. Endicott was led by seven points from Parker McLaren off the bench, with Mark Barrett, Jalen Echevarria and Matt Garry each posting six points in the first half.
In the second, Tufts took a seven-point lead just 1:40 into the frame on a
Trumann Gettings lay-up, but Endicott went on an 8-0 run to regain the lead at 45-44 on a three-pointer from Echevarria. The back-and-forth game continued, but with the score 58-56 Tufts with 9:53 to go, the hosts went on a 12-0 run to lead by 14 to force a timeout by the Gulls.
Endicott got the deficit down to nine points with 1:27 left on a bucket by Echevarria, but the Jumbos hit four of their six free throws down the stretch to seal the victory. The 3-0 start for the Jumbos is their third since 2016-17, with the previous two seasons resulting in trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament Sweet 16.
The 21 points for Aronson were three points shy of his career-high, while Champion came off the bench to add 10 points and also pick up All-Tournament Team honors. Champion wa 4-of-6 from the floor Sunday, going 2-of-3 from downtown in 13 minutes. Thoerner had another big game with 19 points, five rebounds and two assists, and
Bobby Stewart established a new career-high with six assists while pulling in seven rebounds.
Gettings logged 11 points, five rebounds and three steals, while
Theo Henry was solid off the bench with nine points, two assists and three boards.
Casey McLaren led all players with a +20 plus/minus, posting five points, five rebounds and two steals. Tufts shot 51.9 percent from the field on the afternoon (27-52), hitting 40 percent (10-25) from behind the arc.
Endicott got a game-high 23 points from Echevarria, as the dynamic guard was also named to the All-Tournament Team. Parker McLaren posted 14 points for EC, while Barrett tallied nine points and eight rebounds. Endicott shot 41.9 percent from the field, but struggled in the second half making only 12 of its 32 attempts from the floor (37.5 percent).
In the consolation game earlier in the day, Babson College topped Salem State 89-58. Nate Amado was named to the Big 4 All-Tournament Team for Babson, while Conner Byrne picked up the award for Salem State.
The Jumbos are right back in Cousens Gymnasium on Tuesday evening, taking on MIT at 7 p.m. in non-conference action.
--JUMBOS--
