MEDFORD, MA (November 26, 2024) -- Junior center Joshua Bernstein had one of the best games of his Jumbo career on Tuesday evening against MIT, leading the No. 8 Tufts University men's basketball team to an 80-68 win inside Cousens Gymnasium in non-conference play. 

The 6-11 junior posted a career-high 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, adding a season-high 12 rebounds while setting a new personal-best seven blocks in the victory. The seven blocks were the most in a game for a Jumbo since Luke Rogers blocked seven shots back on December 7, 2019 against Brandeis University. 

In the first half, points were hard to come by for both teams as the game was stuck at 17-17 with under seven minutes to go in the opening frame. Tufts took a small lead at 22-17 after two free throws by Bernstein and a triple by sophomore Dylan Reilly, but MIT powered back with a 10-1 win to take a 27-23 lead with 2:08 to go in the first half. Tufts pushed back with a 9-0 run over the final 74 seconds of the first frame, highlighted by three-pointers by James Morakis and Dylan Reilly at the buzzer to make it 32-27 at halftime.

The game would open up in the second half, as Tufts took its largest lead of the game to that point at 18:14 after a Scott Gyimesi bucket to make it 39-31. The Engineers continued to stick around, going on a 12-2 run to regain the lead at 43-41 on a Jackson Weiland lay-up five minutes into the frame. 

The Jumbos kept the see-saw affair going as it turned in a 15-3 run over a four-minute stretch to take a 10-point lead at 56-46 after a Reilly layup after a fantastic feed from senior Bobby Stewart. From that point, the Jumbos lead would hover around double digits the remainder of the game in picking up their fifth straight win to open the season. 

The win marked the third straight win over MIT for the Jumbos, and fourth in the last five daring back to 2019. 

Tufts put two other players in double figures offensively along with Bernstein, as Morakis finished with a strong 17 points, four rebounds and four assists in the win. Reilly added 16 points, making three three-pointers on the night along with his seven rebounds, and junior Sidney Wooten tallied eight points in his first career start at Tufts. Gyimesi only took five shots on the night, but was solid in all aspects with seven rebounds, six points and two assists. 

Stewart played an effective 11 minutes off the bench up front with five points, four rebounds and two assists, and sophomore Liam Kennelly chalked up four steals to help change momentum in the second half. 

The Jumbos shot 50 percent (28-56) for the night, including 53 percent in the second half, while knocking down 34.8 percent (8-23) from behind the arc. Tufts also dominated on the glass to the tune of a 42-28 rebounding margin which turned into a 15-1 edge in second-chance points. 

MIT (4-2) had four scorers in double digits, led by Rome Delgado-Gonzalez and his 15 points. Merlin Gogolin added 14 points, while Isaac Dobie and Kade Kileen had 12 and 11 points, respectively. 

Tufts will return to action on Saturday afternoon for another tough non-conference affair, hosting No. 20 WPI (5-0) inside Cousens Gymnasium in more non-conference play November 30.