MEDFORD, MA (February 7, 2025) -- The No. 15 Tufts University men's basketball team posted its largest victory over Amherst College in the program's history on Friday evening, rolling past the visiting Mammoths 90-51 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play from Cousens Gymnasium.
The 39-point win was the biggest margin for a win this season by Tufts, while the margin over the Mammoths bested the previous best win for Tufts of 27 points back in 2014-15 with a score of 80-53. The victory also clinched a NESCAC Tournament playoff berth for the Jumbos with two more league games to play.
The Jumbos (18-4, 6-2 NESCAC) scored the opening five points while tallying a 12-2 run over the first five minutes to take control of the proceedings. Amherst (11-10, 2-5 NESCAC) made it a nine-point game at 14-5, but the lead would swell up to 17-points quickly after back-to-back triples fro
Zion Watt and
Sidney Wooten. The Mammoths made it a 16-point game on a bucket by Marc Garraud with 4:52 to go in the half, but Tufts raced to a 18-2 run to end the period to take a 51-19 lead into the halftime locker room.
Tufts held the visiting Mammoths to just 27.3 percent (9-33) shooting in the first half, while making a blistering 61.3 percent (19-31) from the floor including nailing a stellar 53.3 percent (8-15) from behind the arc. The Tufts' edge would stay in the 30s for the remainder of the game, highlighted by jumpers from seniors
Jackson Patton and
Michael Berluti to send the crowd into a frenzy. With the field goal by Patton, every Tufts' player has now hit a field goal on the season.
On the night, 14 total Jumbos players got into the score book, led by the 20 points and five assists on 8-of-15 shooting from junior
James Morakis. Classmate
Scott Gyimesi was 8-of-11 from the field, missing a double-double by one rebound as he finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Sophomore
Dylan Reilly tallied eight points and four rebounds, and
Jon Medley added eight points, four assists and two rejections.
Wooten came off the bench to score seven points in 10 minutes, contributing three assists as well, and Watt and first-year
Evan Reeves each had six points of the bench. Junior
Joshua Bernstein blocked five shots in addition to his three rebounds and two steals, and
Liam Kennelly added four points, four rebounds and two helpers.
Tufts finished the night 35-of-59 from the floor, as the 59.3 percent on field goals was the third-best shooting night of the season for the Jumbos. The hosts also made 40.9 percent of their three-pointers, going 9-of-22 from deep Friday. The Jumbos also had a 19-3 edge in fast break points, and forced 16 turnovers by the Mammoths.
Amherst was paced by 10 points from Ryker Vance, while Will Scherer had six points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
The Jumbos have a quick turnaround, playing host to Hamilton College Saturday at 3 p.m. in NESCAC play. Tufts will also honor the 2019-20 NESCAC title squad during halftime, a team that made the NCAA Sweet 16 round with a 23-6 record before the season was halted due to the CoVID-19 pandemic.
--JUMBOS--
