Tied at 35-all at intermission, Stevens scored the first 11 points of the second half. Senior guard Floyd Morris (East Windsor, N.J.) scored four points in the run, and Farid added seven points of his own – including a big three-pointer that staked the Ducks to a 46-35 lead with 16:24 remaining in the game.
Tufts, which reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last year, clawed its way back into the game and closed to with 58-53 on a three-pointer by senior center Brian Fitzgerald (Bedford, N.H.) with 9:52 left on the clock. Stevens answered right back with a 22-5 burst of its own in the span of 4:32 to take an 80-58 lead with less than five minutes to play. Passalacqua, who scored the first five points of the run, had 12 of his 19 second-half points (including two three-pointers) in that stretch. Sophomore guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood Park, N.J.), who scored 11 points in the second half, had a big three-point play during the decisive run for the Ducks. Farid added five of his 20 second-half points in the burst.
Stevens, which out-scored Tufts 57-36 after intermission, continued to pull away down the stretch and led by as many as 30 points at one juncture. Passalacqua’s third three-pointer of the second half staked the Ducks to a 90-60 lead with 3:24 to play. In total, Farid, Gray and Passalacqua combined to score 50 of the team’s 57 points after the break.
Farid finished with 29 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor. He was also 2-for-5 from downtown and 11 of 17 at the foul line. Farid added seven rebounds and four steals. Gray totaled 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He shot 8-for-12 from the field and six of eight from the charity stripe. Passalacqua collected 21 points, four rebounds and two steals. He was 8-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-7 from downtown. Morris chimed in with 12 points, four rebounds and two steals. He knocked down four of seven field-goal attempts in the game. Of note, Farid, Gray, Passalacqua and Morris combined to score 84 of the Ducks’ 92 points on the evening.
The Jumbos were led by sophomore forward Jon Pierce (Belmont, Mass.), who had 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Jake Weitzen (New York, N.Y.) finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Fitzgerald chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.
Stevens shot 53.7 percent (29 of 54) from the field in the game. During the second half, the Ducks connected on 60.6 percent (20-for-33) of their field-goal attempts. The Jumbos made 24 of 64 shots (37.5 percent) in the contest. Tufts struggled from behind the three-point arc all night though as the Jumbos connected on only four of 22 attempts (18.2 percent).
Coming up on Monday, Stevens will hit the road to take on the College of Staten Island at 7:30 p.m.