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The Jumbos got back in the win column.
Tufts athletics file photo
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Less than 24 hours after No. 1 Emory lost at WashU, No. 2 Trinity (Conn.) lost at No. 9 Tufts, meaning 24 of the 25 first-place votes in the poll this past week went to teams who have lost this weekend. Meanwhile, Cal Lutheran handed No. 7 Redlands its second SCIAC loss of the season and No. 13 Mount Union ended No. 21 Otterbein's win streak. That and much more from Saturday in the nightly recap.
With the teams playing their second game in 20 hours, it was homestanding Tufts that had the edge down the stretch, as the No. 9 Jumbos outscored No. 2 Trinity (Conn.) 41-22 in the second half and 25-10 in the final nine minutes to defeat the Bantams, 68-62. Up by nine at 52-43 with 9:05 left, Trinity went 3-for-15 from the floor, and just 1-for-9 from three-point range through the rest of the game. On Senior Day at Tufts, the bench was huge for the Jumbos, as they scored 58 of the 68 points, with freshman Ricardo Nieves leading the way with a team-high 15. Tufts had lost at home to Wesleyan one night earlier
Connecticut College knocked Wesleyan out of sole possession of first place in the NESCAC, as the Saturday blues hit the Cardinals as well with the Camels edging No. 19 Wesleyan 84-83. The Camels trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half before rallying back to hand the Cardinals their first league loss of the season. Elias Espinosa netted 12 of his team-high 20 points after the intermission to lead the comeback, and Dylan Watson also supplied 12 points in the stanza. A Watson free throw with 2.0 seconds to play snapped an 83-83 deadlock. Wesleyan took a timeout with 1.7 seconds remaining to set up the final play, but the ensuing halfcourt heave came up short and sent the Camel crowd into a frenzy. Espinosa shot 7-for-12 from the floor and 4-for-6 from deep in the final regular season home game of his career.
No. 5 Montclair State improved to 20-0, 13-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference with an 84-58 win at Rutgers-Camden. Jacob Morales led all scorers with 24 points, going 9-for-13 from the floor in the win. Kabrien Goss added 15 points and eight assists, while Ahman Roberts had 13 points and 10 boards off the bench. The Red Hawks shot 54 percent from the floor. Across all three levels, the Red Hawks are one of five undefeated teams in NCAA basketball, and the 20-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest in the history of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, matching the mark William Paterson set during the 2009-10 campaign before the streak was snapped by the famous Albertus Magnus three-quarters court buzzer beater in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Jaden Young scored a game-high 22 points and Ryder Mjoen added 20 points off the bench as Cal Lutheran defeated No. 7 Redlands 82-70. The Kingsmen (10-10, 5-6 SCIAC) limited the Bulldogs to 7-for-27 shooting from three-point range and held D-I transfer Derek Sangster to three points in just 12 minutes. Redlands fell to 17-3, 9-2 in conference play. The other highly ranked SCIAC team also lost on Saturday, as Chapman defeated No. 10 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 72-71. The Panthers (12-8, 6-5) hit all four of their free throws in the final minute, which made Will Householter's three-pointer at the buzzer only enough to make the score closer. Jake Heberle led Chapman with 21 points and six assists, while CMS fell to 18-2, 9-2.
No. 21 Otterbein had its winning streak snapped at 11 games as No. 13 Mount Union got out of Westerville, Ohio, with a 74-69 victory. The Purple Raiders (18-2, 9-2 OAC) had two players score in double figures with junior Elijah Farrington leading the way with a game-high 21-point, 15-rebound double-double, sophomore Chance Casenhiser added 18 points to round out the Raiders in double digits. The Cardinals (16-3, 8-2) were led by Troy Scowden who scored a team-high 17 points and Julian Heckman who added 12 points. Mount Union went on a 10-2 run to take a 66-63 lead with 1:46 left to play. The Raiders and Cardinals went back-and-forth over the final minute and a half of play as Mount Union held on for the 74-69 victory.
Zevi Samet had a night to remember for Yeshiva, and knocked three-time D3hoops.com first team All-American Ryan Turell out of the top spot for most points scored in a single game in Macs history as he went for 52 in YU's 110-52 win against Merchant Marine. Samet was 18-for-26 from the floor, 10-for-15 from three-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the win, playing 29 minutes. Samet now has 2,293 points in his career.
Grinnell clinched its berth in the four-team Midwest Conference tournament for the third year in a row, as the Pioneers defeated Lawrence 88-75. Kai Te Huki was stellar from three-point land for the Pioneers, scoring 17 points with the aid of 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He surpassed the 1,500-point mark for his career and has 1,516, 12th in program history. Te Huki was joined in double figures by Gabe Garcia with 14 points and Zach Rosen with 12. The Pioneers increased an 11-point halftime lead to 19 points, but the Vikings roared back into contention and made it a 70-67 game with 5:07 left. Te Huki stopped the bleeding with a trey and, after a jumper by Lawrence, Courtney began a crucial 6-0 run for Grinnell with a layup. Garcia tacked on three free throws and Te Huki another to make it 79-69 with 3:36 left. The team's next game is on Wednesday, where Grinnell (15-3, 10-1) hosts Monmouth (16-4, 11-0).
Mass-Boston remained in first place all alone in the Little East, as the Beacons defeated Eastern Connecticut 81-71. It ends a dismal month of January for the Warriors, who entered the new year at 9-1 but lost seven of nine games in January and stand at 11-8, 3-7 LEC. Cameron Perkins landed right around his scoring average, putting up 24 points for the Beacons, who have had the opposite experience this season -- Mass-Boston entered January with a 6-5 mark and went 7-2 in January to improve to 13-7, 9-2 in LEC play. Raphel Laurent and Davon Sanders added 20 points apiece for the Beacons, with Sanders going 12-for-13 from the foul line. Eastern Connecticut shot just 29 percent from three-point range and 50 percent from the line, with Julian Sanchez scoring 19 off the bench to lead the way.
Stevens fended off a late comeback by Arcadia and pulled into a four-way tie for first place in the MAC Freedom with an 82-79 win. Tommy Scholl led the Ducks (12-7, 6-2 MAC Freedom) with 25 points, while Jamison Lynam poured in a career-best 37 for Arcadia (13-6, 6-2). Stevens led by 22 early in the second half before Arcadia scored 15 consecutive points, eventually pulling within four, at 71-67.Anthony Loscalzo responded with a three, but Arcadia trimmed the deficit to one possession on a Lynam triple with 3:12 remaining. Scholl, Coughlan, and Maddison each went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to rebuild a six-point lead. After Arcadia went 1-for-2 at the line, the Knights forced a turnover and converted a layup to close within three with 47 seconds remaining. Stevens came up empty on its next possession, but after a timeout, the Ducks forced a missed three-pointer. The rebound went out of bounds as time expired, sealing the win. Misericordia, which defeated Lebanon Valley, and DeSales, which knocked off Delaware Valley in overtime, are also 6-2 in conference play.
Omari DeVeaux had 29 points, shooting 9-for-15 from the field, and 11-for-13 from the free throw line, as Virginia Wesleyan defeated Guilford 99-95. The teams combined to shoot 82 free throws in the game, with Virginia Wesleyan (13-5, 8-1 ODAC) going 34-for-44 and Guilford 28-for-38. TJ East added 22 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the floor, 1-for-2 from beyond the arc, and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe, with eight rebounds. Guilford (10-9, 4-6) got a game-high 36 from Braylen Salters.
Covenant averages 92.2 points per game and has 11 players averaging between 10 and 25 minutes, so when the Scots go to their second wave, it's not exactly a dropoff. In this case, that second group was exactly the spark the team needed as led a 23-6 run in the second half, led by 14 points from Noah Pence, as the Scots defeated Huntingdon 96-90 in Collegiate Conference of the South play. The second group came in trailing by eight before Pence and Jake Stephens helped flip the script and turn it into a nine-point advantage. The win leaves Covenant at 8-13 overall, 3-5 in conference play. Marcus Townsend had 37 points and 11 rebounds for Huntingdon (10-8, 4-2).
It's been a long time since Wittenberg defeated its archrival three times in a row -- 2004, in fact. But the Tigers made it three in a row on Saturday, defeating the Scots 86-75. Noah Frayer had a game-high and career-high 31 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-7 from three-point range in the win. Wittenberg improved to 14-5, 7-3 in the NCAC, while Wooster fell to 6-14, 3-8.
