No. 11 Tufts Falls On the Road At Amherst, 63-54

AMHERST, MA (January 12, 2024) -- A first-half lead for Tufts University wasn't quite enough to fight off the home-court advantage that took hold of Amherst College sophomore forward Charlie Randall in the second half of Friday night's game. The battle in LeFrak Gymnasium was the second of the Jumbos' New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) games and resulted in a 63-54 loss to the Mammoths.

The Jumbos started off strong with an outside shot from senior guard Jay Dieterle as well as points in the paint from guard Casey McLaren and forward Scott Gyimesi, putting the Jumbos (13-3, 0-2 NESCAC) up 9-4 in the first three minutes of play. 

Responses from the Mammoths (9-7, 1-2 NESCAC) put Amherst on top just over a minute later, with guard Chris Hammond and center Will Scherer leading the charge. Amherst then went on a 12-2 run with serious contributions from junior forward Ryker Vance until Dieterle answered with a three-pointer with 12:17 left in the opening stanza. 

The score bounced back and forth with Tufts and Amherst each scoring a total of 11 points off of turnovers in the first 20 minutes. With 7:05 left to play, a three-pointer from freshman guard Dylan Reilly put the Jumbos up 25-21, only for the Mammoths to go on a 8-0 run in the next three minutes. 

Jumbos junior Khai Champion took back the lead for the men of Medford with five of his seven first-half points, giving Tufts a 30-29 lead with 2:17 to go in the half. Amherst battled back, but Dieterle sealed the Jumbos' first-half success with a fast-break layup that gave him eight points on the half and his team a 32-31 lead heading into the locker room.

The start of the second half was full of fouls for Joshua Bernstein, where an early two resulted in a total of four personals early in the second half for the sophomore center. Despite the Jumbos receiving scoring help from Gyimesi to go up 34-31, Randall was just starting to heat up. The Mammoths went on another 8-0 run early in the second half, with all eight points (and 6 of those from 3) for Randall. Two more Gyimesi layups were met with two more deep field goals from Randall, and the Mammoths went up 42-36 with 16:17 to go. 

Tufts responded with some fast-break points from both Champion and freshman guard Jon Medley. Medley was hot from everywhere, making free-throws and a three-pointer to push the Jumbos ahead for a 46-42 lead with 11:52 on the clock. After both teams used timeouts, a momentum shift resulted in a series of missed shots for Tufts, and at 7:59 the Jumbos called another timeout. 

Both teams made multiple substitutions, and Tufts' Champion took that as a sign to try and take the lead. The answer to his five points was an Amherst 3-pointer from junior forward Noah Helmke to even the score at 52-52. 

As Tufts struggled to put up first- and second-time shots on offense, they also faced foul trouble on defense. Amherst took advantage of Tufts' Bernstein receiving his fifth foul. Even after a jump shot from Champion to give them 54 points, Tufts could not hang on with Amherst as the Mammoths not only went 8-8 on free throws in the second half, but also continued on a 9-0 run for the last two minutes of the game including another 3-pointer from Randall (4-5 in the second half).

Tufts out-performed their opponent in field goals for the entirety of the first half, with the Jumbos even shooting 66.67% from behind the three-point line in contrast to the Mammoths' 27.27%. However, the Jumbos struggled to convert 3-point attempts in the second half (1-14) while Amherst went 6-13 and sealed the deal by making 100% of their free throws. 

Despite the tough result, Tufts had multiple high-contributors in Friday's game, including Champion scoring 15 and and Gyimesi in double digits for both points and rebounds (10-14). Jay Dieterle and Jon Medley both finished the game with eight points. 

Tufts (13-3, 0-2 NESCAC) will be back in action on the road Saturday, January 13 at 3 p.m. in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play against Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.