MEDFORD - Senior Shay Ajayi scored 26 points with 16 rebounds as visiting Trinity College earned an 88-76 victory at Tufts in NESCAC men's basketball action Friday night.
The Bantams entered the game second in the league while Tufts was third. The score was tied 58-58 with 10 minutes remaining in regulation before Trinity finished strong. They are now 15-6 overall and 6-1 in NESCAC. Tufts dropped to 16-5 and 5-3.
Junior Tom Palleschi had 25 points, seven rebounds and five blocks for Tufts, who never led in the game. SophomoreVincent Pace added 21 points with six rebounds and three steals.
A traditional three-point play by Palleschi tied the game at 58-58. Neither team scored for the next two minutes until the Bantams initiated a 12-1 run which gave them a 70-59 lead with 5:21 on the second-half clock. Sophomore Eric Gendron scored six points and Ajayi had four during the Bantam stretch.
The Jumbos would get the margin down to nine three times in the final five minutes, including 76-67 on a pair of Palleschi free throws with 3:09 on the clock. However, Trinity was able to score on some easy lay-ups and went seven for eight at the line down the stretch to secure the win.
The Bantams had opened a 19-10 lead at 10:48 of the first half as Ajayi scored their first six points and five players overall contributed to the early lead. The Jumbos came back to tie the score at 34-34 by halftime as Palleschi scored 12 points in the first 20 minutes. Ajayi had 11 for Trinity.
The Bantams scored the first eight points of the second half to lead 42-34 on a pair of free throws by Ajayi. He had six points during the run. The Trinity lead was at 56-48 on a free throw by freshman Erick Santana at 12:40. The Jumbos erased the deficit with a 10-2 run that produced the 58-58 deadlock. Palleschi had six points and senior Stephen Haladyna added four to the Jumbo stretch.
Trinity finished with a 53.4 field goal percentage (31/58) as they made 17 of 30 (56.7) second-half shots. Ajayi made eight of 12 shots and was nine for 11 from the line. Trinity was +10 in rebounds (42-32) as junior Ed Ogundeko grabbed seven to go with 12 points. Gendron added 17 points for the winners while Santana had 10 and senoir Andrew Hurd finished with eight points and six assists. The Bantams were five for nine (55.6) on threes.
The Jumbos made 20 of their first 21 free throws in the game and ended up scoring 34 points at the line. They finished at 82.9 percent (34/41). However, they made only four of 24 three-pointers (16.7) and went 19 for 57 overall (33.3). They were just nine for 32 (28.1) overall and one for 15 (6.7) from distance in the second half. Haladyna totaled 10 points and seven rebounds.
Tufts hosts Amherst tomorrow in a 2 pm start. Trinity travels to Bates for a 3 pm game.
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