Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Senior Jordan Rezendes (Onset, Mass.) converted an and-one opportunity with 29 seconds remaining to secure a Little East Conference victory for the UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team on the road Saturday, escaping Southern Maine 91-90.
Rezendes led all players on the contest with 34 points, including 12-of-24 from the field and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, while adding seven assists. Freshman Nick Portelance (Fairhaven, Mass.) posted the Corsairs' other double-figure scoring mark, dropping 24 points while grabbing 15 rebounds to earn his team-leading eighth double-double. Junior Tom Keyes (Fall River, Mass.) recorded a career-high nine points including two 3-point buckets.
The game was a flip-flop affair, with UMass Dartmouth owning the first half, outscoring the Huskies 52-38. Southern Maine then turned the tides entirely in the second stanza, scoring 52 points to the Corsairs' 39. For the contest, the Huskies registered 31-of-62 (50 percent) shooting, while UMass Dartmouth hit 44 percent (37-of-83) of its attempts.
Junior Zach Leal (York, Maine) led four Huskies in double-figures with 27 points. Classmate Atencio Martin (Kittery, Maine) contributed 21 points, while senior Ben Jackson (Houston, Tex.) and senior Jose Nouchanthavong (Westbrook, Maine) each added 12.
After Southern Maine began the game with an 8-4 lead, the Corsairs exploded over the next four minutes. A Rezendes jumper at 14:34 tied the score at 10, sparking a commanding 21-3 run that put the visitors up 18 halfway through the first half.
With 9:55 remaining, Leal broke the Huskies' dry spell, connecting on a 3-pointer to bring the lead down to 15. The closest Southern Maine would get for the remainder of the half would be nine points, as UMass Dartmouth secured 28 points in the paint, 15 off turnovers and 16 second-chance points en route to a 14-point halftime lead. Rezendes scored 22 of his points in the opening stanza.
The second half told a different story entirely, as Southern Maine rallied back from what became a 17-point deficit to restart play. Over the next six minutes, the Huskies whittled the lead down to only three, 66-69 with 12:11 remaining following a 26-12 run.
The Corsairs were able to build their advantage back up to 10 at the 9:02 mark, but couldn't quite shake the Huskies. With the lead hovering around seven for six minutes, Southern Maine's Cole Libby (Buxton, Maine) and Nouchanthavong recorded back-to-back buckets to bring the Corsair lead to only one.
Rezendes then sealed the game, sinking the jumper and the corresponding free throw. UMass Dartmouth narrowly escaped following 3-pointer from Mitch Loeman (Freeport, Maine), as Southern Maine missed its last two scoring opportunities over the last three seconds.
Both teams now sit 2-3 in the LEC, while UMass Dartmouth improves to 9-6 overall. Southern Maine sees its two-game win streak snapped while falling to 8-7.
