THE BASICS:

- Score: MIT 66, Tufts 65

- Records: MIT (4-2); Tufts (0-4) 

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)

- The Lead: In a back-and-forth matchup on Tuesday night, the MIT men's basketball team withstood a late Tufts rally and came away with a hard-fought 66-65 non-conference victory over the Jumbos. The win is MIT's third straight as the Engineers move to 4-2 overall.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- In the first half, the teams were tied our four occasions and had four lead changes. The largest lead came at 8-2 in the early minutes after a jumper from junior Alex Cho (San Diego, Calif.) capped a quick Engineer start. MIT shot 41.4 percent from the field in the first half, while the Jumbos outscored the Engineers by a 12-6 margin from three in the first 20 minutes.

- It was MIT that got off to a hot start in the second half as an 11-2 turned a one-point margin into a 43-33 double-digit lead at the 15:28 mark following a three from senior Ian Hinkley (Raleigh, N.C.). With the Engineers still lead by eight at 48-40 with 11:12 on the clock, the Jumbos countered with a quick 11-0 run that included a three-pointer from Tyler Aronson to put Tufts up 51-48.

- The second of two free throws from senior Julian Manyika (San Francisco, Calif.) with 4:20 remaining put MIT up for good, followed by a three from sophomore Charles Rich (Holladay, Utah) and a layup from Cho. The lead remained no more than five over the rest of regulation, including at two at 65-63 following a three by Brennan Morris with just 19 seconds left. A Cho free throw extended the edge back up to three before a Jay Dieterle layup at the buzzer accounted for the 66-65 final margin. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Cho paced the MIT scoring with 17 points to go along with a game-high four assists, while Rich added 13 points and senior Giannis Chatziveroglou (Athens, Greece) finished with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

- MIT shot 44.2 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from three-point land, while the Jumbos were held to 35 percent from the field and 27.6 percent from three. Tufts held a commanding 45-31 rebounding advantage, but were turned over 18 times as those led to 12 MIT points.

- Morris and Dieterle led four Jumbos in double figures with 13 points each, along with 11 from Dylan Thoerner and 10 points from Aronson. Bobby Stewart was the top rebounds for Tufts as he posted a game-high 12 boards.

UP NEXT:

- The Engineers are back in action on Saturday, November 27th as the team hosts Keene State College for a 1 p.m. non-conference matchup.

STAY CONNECTED:

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