Men's Basketball falls on the road at Wesleyan

MIDDLETOWN, CT (February 10, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's basketball team falls on the road Friday night to the Wesleyan University Cardinals 85-82 at Silloway Gymnasium in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play.

The Jumbos (17-6, 5-4 NESCAC) and Cardinals (15-8, 6-3 NESCAC) started the game off going back-and-forth until a James Morakis layup halfway through the first half gave the Jumbos a five point lead. Wesleyan would then not miss a shot the next six minutes as they were powered by Preston Maccoux scored six points and now led 40-35 with less than four minutes remaining. The lead would continue to grow as it was extended all the way to 13, but that would be as far as it got as Dylan Thoerner scored six points in 53 seconds to bring the Jumbos back withing nine as they headed to halftime.

The Jumbos showed good fight in the second half as they battled all the way back and cut it to a one point lead after Carson Cohen converted a free throw after making a layup. Thoerner was determined to keep the Jumbos within striking distance as he scored 16 of his career-high 33 points down the stretch. After Wesleyan had missed several free throw attempts, Thoerner's made three with 14 seconds left cut the Wesleyan lead to one. Wesleyan would then extend their lead to three and Tufts would miss the tying jumper at the buzzer.

Thoerner led the Jumbos with 33 points as he shot 12 of 13 from the field and 8 of 9 from behind the three point line. Trumann Gettings led the way with eight rebounds. Tufts shot 49 percent from the field on the day (32-65) and 52 perfect (10-19) from behind the three-point line.

Gabe Ravetz lead the way for Wesleyan with 22 points, going 8-14 from the field. Maccoux added 16 points as Wesleyan had four different scorers have 10 or more points. For the game, the Cardinals shot 58 percent from the field (33-57).

Tufts will return to action tomorrow on the road against Trinity College on Saturday February 11 at 3 p.m. in NESCAC play in Hartford, CT. 

                                                                                                                 --JUMBOS--