WORCESTER, MA (November 28, 2023) -- The No. 23 Tufts University men's basketball team chalked up a big road non-conference victory Tuesday evening at No. 12 Worcester Polytechnic Institute, holding off a late Engineer charge to pick up a 67-58 win in play from Harrington Auditorium.
The Jumbos moved to 6-0 on the season, with five of those victories coming on the road. Tuesday's win marked the first time since the 2016-17 season that Tufts has won its first six games, as the Jumbos went on to finish 22-7 that year with a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 round.
Tuesday's game was a tough, physical battle from the onset as the Engineers (6-1) took their biggest lead of the contest early at 5-2 after a jumper from John Adams with 17:03 to play in the opening stanza. The two teams exchanged leads a few times before a bucket from sophomore
Scott Gyimesi gave Tufts a 9-8 lead at the 14:28 mark.
The momentum would continue for the Jumbos, who built their lead up to 12 at 22-10 with just under 10 minutes to play on a free throw by junior
Trumann Gettings. WPI slowly pulled closer as the half came to an end, with Tufts taking a narrow 30-25 lead into the halftime break.
The second half proved to be a tough task for the Jumbos in holding off their hosts, but they were up to that challenge as each time the Engineers charged Tufts had an answer. With 9:50 to go in regulation, Nathan Bledsoe hit a three-pointer to make it a one-point edge for Tufts at 45-44, but a three-point play from Gettings started a 9-2 run that edged with a
Casey McLaren triple with 3:30 to play.
The Jumbos built their lead up to a game-high 13 with 1:43 to play and held off a furious rally by WPI late in the game to stay unbeaten.
Gyimesi had another monster game offensively for the Jumbos, as he was 9-of-13 for 20 points, adding 12 rebounds and four assists. Sophomore big man
Joshua Bernstein was hampered by foul trouble, but was still strong with 12 points, eight boards and two blocks before fouling out. Junior
Khai Champion came off the bench to tally 11 points as well.
McLaren finished with five points, four assists and three rebounds in addition to his always stellar defense, and first-year
Liam Kennelly was 2-for-4 for five points while posting three steals as well. Senior
Jay Dieterle also posted eight rebounds and two steals in the victory.
Tufts was 23-of-57 (40.5 percent) from the floor, but posted a huge 48-35 edge on the glass which led to an 11-3 second-chance point difference.
Bledsoe led WPI with 12 points, while Donovan Sevilla finished with 10 points. Adams tallied nine points and 13 rebounds as the Jumbos held the Engineers to just 34.5 percent shooting from the field for the night.
The Jumbos will have one day off before taking on yet another undefeated team, welcoming in Clark University (5-0) to Cousens Gymnasium Thursday at 7 p.m. in non-conference action.
--JUMBOS--
