The winner of Tufts’ game tomorrow at Amherst College will win the NESCAC regular season title and earn the top seed in the league tournament. Trinity, which closes the regular season against Bates tomorrow afternoon, has clinched its sixth straight bid to the league tourney and could finish third, fourth, or fifth in the final standings.
After 20 minutes of play resulted in a 34-34 tie at halftime and regulation ended in a 73-73 knot, Tufts took an 80-77 lead on a jumper by O’Keefe with 2:13 left on the clock. Trinity sophomore center Russ Martin (East Longmeadow, Mass.) missed a pair of free throws, but stole the ball from the Tufts rebounder and scored a quick lay-up and foul shot to tie the score again at 80-80 with 1:47 left to play. Jumbo freshman forward Jake Weitzen (New York, N.Y.), who led Tufts with 19 points off the bench, fed O’Keefe on the clinching basket just 20 seconds later, and the visitors kept Trinity scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Each team held brief six-point leads in the second half and Trinity went ahead, 73-69, with 2:11 left on the clock on a pair of free throws by freshman forward Aaron Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland). Tufts tied the score with 43 seconds left on a put-back by senior center Dan Martin (Sandwich, Mass.) and Bantam junior Kino Clarke (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave Trinity back the lead on a drive down the middle with 16 ticks remaining. Tufts junior forward Brian Kumf (Milford, Mass.) missed a contested lay-up in the closing seconds, but Dan Martin forced the extra frame on another put-back.
Trinity junior guard Patrick Martin (Springfield, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points and added six assists, while Clarke had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Russ Martin totaled 15 points and seven boards off the bench and senior co-captain Tyler Rhoten (Ridgewood, N.J.) finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Westbrooks pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and made three steals for the Bantams. Five Jumbos finished in double figures in scoring, as Martin notched 15 points and 10 rebounds, Kumf had 14 points, and junior tri-captain guard David Shepherd (Grantham, N.H.) added 12 points.
Tufts (19-4) 34-39-11--84
Trinity, Conn. (16-5) 34-39-7--80