Men's Basketball Falls In NESCAC Semifinal Game

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (February 25, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's basketball team falls in the semifinals of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament this afternoon against Hamilton College 71-48 at Chandler Gymnasium on the campus of Williams College.

For much of the first half Tufts and Hamilton were even as the two teams traded baskets. Tyler Aronson led the way for the Jumbos with eight points in the first nine and a half minutes of the game. An Aronson three pointer a little over five minutes into the game gave the Jumbos a five-point lead. Along with Aronson, Joshua Bernstein was controlled the paint in the early stages of the game scoring four points.

Hamilton grabbed control of the game over the final 7:19 of the first half thanks to a 17-5 run and took a 34-21 lead going into halftime. The Continentals had balanced scoring throughout and shot 6-for-12 from the field over that same period including a Hank Morgan three pointer with five seconds left. Tufts shot two for six from the field and turned the ball over four times.

Coming out of halftime, Hamilton was able to take control of the game and never let the Jumbos back into it. Hamilton was led by both Morgan and Teja Singh as they both scored nine points. Morgan and Eric Anderson both knocked down three pointers to start the scoring in the second half. Dylan Thoerner scored five points in 30 seconds to cut the Hamilton lead to 15 with 7 minutes left, but the Jumbos couldn't get any closer as Singh scored five points of his own after to bring the Continental lead back up to 20.
 
Aronson and Jay Dieterle both led the Jumbos with 9 points. Scott Gyimesi grabbed seven rebounds. Tufts had seven steals over the course of the afternoon, but poor shooting doomed the Jumbos as they shot 27 percent from the field and 25 percent from behind the three-point line.

Morgan tallied a game-high 19 points for Hamilton (18-8), going 8-12 from the field and 3-3 from behind the three-point arc while also grabbing seven rebounds. Singh gave the Continentals 13 points. For the game, the Panthers shot 42 percent from the field, and they outrebounded the Jumbos 47-34.

Tufts will now have its fate decided by the Division III selection committee and will await to see if they make the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Division III selection show is Monday February 27^th at 1 PM. 

                                                                                                      --JUMBOS--