Teams: Men's Basketball: Press Releases

Monday, January 29, 2007

WEITZEN SCORES 1,000TH POINT IN JUNIOR SEASON FOR JUMBOS

MEDFORD -- Before Jake Weitzen (New York, NY/Bronx HS of Science) had even played a game for the Tufts University men's basketball team, head coach Bob Sheldon spoke of his potential to be a great scorer. The coach's prediction has come to life, as Weitzen reached the 1,000 career points milestone as a junior on Saturday at Wesleyan University.

Needing five points to reach 1,000 entering the game, Weitzen hit a three-pointer at 17:29 of the first half to accomplish the milestone. He finished with a team-high 19 points in a 94-69 Jumbo blow-out of the Cardinals. He currently sits at 1,014 points in 74 games for a 13.7 career scoring average. Weizen is the 25th player in Tufts history to score 1,000 points, and the first since Reggie Stovel did it during the 2004-05 campaign.

As a freshman in 2004-05, the 6'3", 265-pound forward scored 289 points and was second on the team with an 11.1 points per game scoring average. He scored 23 points in the second game of his college career against Whittier in the Lopata Classic in St. Louis. He matched that total in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) game at Middlebury, and finished with five games of 20 points or more.

Weitzen topped 20 points eight times as a sophomore last season, including 26 against Keene State and Wheaton. He was again second on the team in scoring, accumulating 449 points for a 15.0 average. After a .562 shooting percentage (109/194) as a freshman, he hit at .511 (157/307) last year.

This season, Weitzen leads the Jumbos in scoring at 15.3 points per game with 276 points. He scored 22 points in the season-opener at home against Lasell College during the Tufts Tip-Off Tournament and has been in double figures for all except one game. His field goal percentage is again impressive at .530 (106/200).

A starter for the first time this season, Weitzen has the potential to be a 1,500 point scorer for the Jumbos. With six games left in this regular-season, plus probably post-season games for the Jumbos, and then all of next season, its possible Weitzen could become just the fifth player in Jumbo history to reach the 1,500 mark. Greg Davis is the team's all-time leading scorer with 19.2 points per game.

Clearly, Coach Sheldon knew what he was talking about.

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