NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's basketball team dropped a 76-73 decision to No. 10 Tufts University on Saturday afternoon in a NESCAC clash at Luce Field House.

Tufts (16-2 overall, 5-0 NESCAC) overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to earn its 16th straight win. The Jumbos led by as many as 12 in the second half but had to hold off the Camels down the stretch. Conn made it a one-possession game at four different points in the final 2:25, but came up short on two chances to pull even in the final seconds.

Joshua Bernstein led four Jumbos in double figures with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Zion Watt shot 5-for-8 from three and finished with 17 points while Dylan Reilly added 12, and Scott Gyimesi rounded out the group with 10 points, 10 boards and a game-high eight assists.

Elias Espinosa (Leonia, N.J.) netted a game-high 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting to pace the Camels. Dylan Watson (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) and Greg Cantwell (Glen Head, N.Y.) chipped in 16 points apiece.

Conn didn't trail in the first half thanks to a fast start. Espinosa supplied seven points in the opening 1:51 of the game to spot the Camels a 10-2 advantage. Later in the half, Garrett Clar (Victor, N.Y.) gave Conn its biggest lead at 32-21 with 2:02 to go. All told, the hosts shot 45 percent in the stanza and led 35-25 at the break. 

Tufts flipped the script in the second half, erasing the deficit with a 14-4 spurt and tying the game at 39-39 on a three by Reilly at the 15:11 mark. Gyimesi then followed with a jumper in the lane to give the Jumbos the lead for good. 

After a layup by Bernstein gave Tufts its biggest lead at 62-50 with 5:38 remaining, the Camels responded with buckets on four straight possessions to close the gap. The 8-0 run—which included six points from Cantwell—forced the Jumbos to take a timeout with 3:26 to play.

Out of the timeout, Watt drained back-to-back threes to give the Jumbos a seven-point cushion. After an Espinosa three made it 68-65 with 2:25 to go, Gyimesi rebounded a miss and kicked out to Watt for another triple.  

Espinosa laced his fourth three of the afternoon to make it a three-point game with 1:17 to go. The teams then traded points—a layup by Jon Medley and two free throws for Clar—as Tufts protected the one-score margin.

After Gyimesi made one of two at the line to bump Tufts' lead to four, James LaFrance (Guilford, Conn.) was fouled on a three-point attempt with 14.6 seconds to go. He calmly sank all three freebies to get the Camels to within one at 74-73.

Conn put Sidney Wooten on the line with 12.9 seconds left on the clock, and the senior cashed in both attempts to pad the lead back to three. The Camels ended up with two chances at the tie in the final seconds but missed on both.

Conn (14-5 overall, 2-3 NESCAC) will next host Trinity College on Friday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m.