HARTFORD, CT (February 11, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's basketball team led by as many as 27 points Saturday at host Trinity College, finishing the 2022-23 regular season with a 74-59 road win over the Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action from Oosting Gymnasium.
The Jumbos (18-6, 6-4 NESCAC) can finish as high a tie for fourth place in the conference, but due to tiebreakers would only be able to be as high as the No. 5 seed in the NESCAC Tournament. The final game of the regular season in the NESCAC will be played Sunday featuring Connecticut College and Williams College. If Connecticut College wins, it would create a three-way tie at the No. 4 spot in the standings. The Camels would be 2-0 against the Jumbos and Ephs, earning the No. 4 seed, while Tufts' win over Williams would give them the No. 5 seed and a trip to Conn. College next weekend.
If Williams knocks off Connecticut College Sunday, Tufts would be the No. 5 seed while the Ephs would share the top spot with Hamilton College, Middlebury College and Wesleyan College. Williams and Hamilton would be 2-1 against the four teams tied, and beat Hamilton in the regular season giving the Ephs the No. 1 seed. Hamilton College would be the No. 2 seed, while Wesleyan's win over Middlebury would give the the Cardinals the No. 3 seed sending Tufts to Middlebury next weekend in the NESCAC quarterfinals.
Saturday's game was rarely in doubt as the Jumbos used a 19-2 run midway through the first half to take a 25-10 lead with 9:39 to go in the first half. The Jumbos were 8-of-12 from the floor during the spurt, led by five points from sophomore
Khai Champion. The Jumbos could continue to shoot the ball well through the remainder of the frame, outscoring the Bantams (16-8, 4-6 NESCAC) 15-8 to take a 40-20 lead into the break.
The Jumbos saw their advantage trimmed down to 13 with 16 minutes to play on a free throw by Charles Redd, but Tufts responded with 15 of the game's next 18 points to put the game away. Senior
Tyler Aronson powered the run with six points as Tufts shot 6-of-8 during the span.
Aronson finished with a team-high 14 points, making 5-of-9 from the field while connecting on 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line. First-year
Scott Gyimesi tallied 12 points, one shy of his career-high, while tying his career-high in rebounds with 11 to post his second career double-double.
Trumann Gettings made all but one of his field goals, adding 10 points, while
Dylan Thoerner recorded nine points as well. First-year center
Joshua Bernstein logged 17 minutes, scoring eight points to go with four rebounds, and Champion tallied eight points.
The Jumbos shot the ball well all weekend, but especially Saturday as they made 29-of-51 (56.9 percent) from the field in the victory. Tufts made 43.8 percent from behind the three-point arc (43.8 percent), while holding a 36-24 advantage in the paint. The 56.9 percent shooting was a season-high in NESCAC action, besting the previous high from yesterday at Wesleyan (49.2 percent).
Ben Callahan-Gold tallied 17 points and seven rebounds to pace the Bantams, while Joseph Hoch also recorded 12 points in defeat.
The official announcement of the NESCAC Tournament, times, opponents and locations will come on Sunday evening. For more information, click
HERE for the NESCAC Men's Basketball Tournament Homepage.
--JUMBOS--
