Keene St. Defeats Tufts Men's Basketball In Second Round Of NCAA Tournament

KEENE, NH (March 4, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's basketball team falls on the road Saturday night to the Keene State Owls 77-72 at Spaulding Gymnasium in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Jumbos (20-8) and Owls (27-1) started the game off going back-and-forth until Tyler Aronson knocked down two free throws to big the Jumbo lead to 8 about halfway through the first half. The Owls would then go on a 16-7 run over the next seven minutes to take a one point after Spencer Aronson hit a three-pointer. The lead would then change five different times for the final two and a half minutes of half and would end with the Jumbos hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to give them a two point lead at halftime. Aronson led the Jumbos scoring 16 points in the half including going over 1,000 points for his career.

Keene St. came out of halftime on fire as they went on a 7-0 run to start as Jeff Hunter played a key role for the Owls to lead the charge back. Dylan Thoerner responded as he scored four quick points to help get the Jumbos within one. The game would then be tied at 48 with a little over 11 minutes as Hunter would help lead the Owls to victory scoring nine of his 25 points in crunch time. Keene St opened their lead all the way up to eight but the Jumbos never quit as Aronson hit two three-pointers in the final 30 seconds to cut into the Keene St lead.

Aronson led the Jumbos with 24 points as he shot 8 of 19 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free throw line while Theo Henry added 16 points. Scott Gyimesi led the way with 10 rebounds. Tufts scored 30 points in the paint and scored 20 second chance points.

Hunter led the way for the Owls scoring 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as three other players scored double-digit points. Octavio Brito also had a double-double as he scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.  

Tufts finishes the season with a 20-8 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It was this Tufts seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament and have advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in history.

                                                                                                                  --JUMBOS--