Hartford, Conn. – Senior co-captain forward Luke MacDougall (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) scored a game-high 20 points, sinking eight out of 13 shots from the field and three out of four from three-point range, and added five rebounds to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 70-47 win over the visiting Tufts University Jumbos in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Basketball Championship Quarterfinals this afternoon at Oosting Gym. Trinity, seeded No. 4 in the tourney, improves to 14-11 with its first win in three games but its fourth straight home triumph, and will play at top-seeded Williams in the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday, February 26 at 2 p.m. Tufts, seeded No. 5 in the tournament, closes its year with a 13-12 record. Trinity had edged Tufts, 66-61, at home two weeks ago, which gave them the tiebreaking edge and the home game today over the Jumbos, who finished tied with Trinity for fourth place in the league at 4-5.
The game started slowly, tied at 4-4 after more than five minutes of play, before Trinity used a 7-2 run to take an 11-6 lead with just under 13 minutes on the clock. After a short jumper by Tufts sophomore center Matt Lanchantin (Natick, Mass.) less than a minute later, the Bantams rattled off 15 unanswered points over an eight-minute span to take a 26-8 lead on a long three-pointer by senior guard Brian Ford (Bronx, N.Y.). Two free throws by freshman forward Tom Folliard (Richmond, Va.) ended the Jumbo drought, but Trinity maintained at least a 16-point lead for the remainder of the game.
Trinity shot 8-for-17 from long range and held a 38-to-27 rebounding edge, while holding Tufts to 13 field goals in 45 tries (28.9 percent). Bantam sophomore Mick DiStasio (Cheverus, Maine) scored 13 points and Ford finished with 10, while junior center Chris Applegate (High Point, N.C.) grabbed six rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Junior forward James Long (Norwell, Mass.) paced Tufts with 12 points and four rebounds off the bench, making eight out of 10 from the charity stripe.