Box Score DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The fourth-seeded Corsairs used a 32-62 (51 percent) sharpshooting performance from the field on Wednesday to advance to the 2016 Little East Conference Tournament semifinals, downing No. 5 seed Western Connecticut 90-77 at the Tripp Athletic Center.
UMass Dartmouth advances past the quarterfinal round for the third-straight year and is slated to meet top-seeded Eastern Connecticut, who will host the semifinals and finals on Saturday and Sunday. The winner will meet the victor from the other semifinal contest between No. 3 seed Keene State and No. 7 seed Rhode Island College.
Senior Jordan Rezendes (Onset, Mass.) led all scorers with a game-high 37 points, dishing out eight assists and snagging seven rebounds in his final game at the Tripp Athletic Center. Freshman Nick Portelance (Fairhaven, Mass.) registered a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double, and junior Jahleel Moise (Brockton, Mass.) dropped a season-high 17 points to go along with three blocks. Junior Abi Akanni (Fitchburg, Mass.) was a well-rounded presence on both ends of the floor, contributing seven points, eight rebounds and seven helpers.
Western Connecticut senior Luis Bridtter (Stamford, Conn.) led four Colonials in double-figures, posting 19 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Jauch Green (Hartford, Conn.) contributed 15 points, while seniors Phil Starks (Hartford, Conn.) and Ryan Belote (Meriden, Conn.) scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Both teams jumped out to a quick start, as it took nearly all of three minutes for either team to miss a basket. The Corsairs took their first lead of the night at 15:28 with a Portelance layup.
Play remained back-and-forth through until five minutes remained in the half, when Rezendes knocked down a 3-pointer to kick off a 20-4 UMass Dartmouth run to close the stanza. Rezendes scored 14 of the Corsairs' points during the streak, including all four of his long-range buckets for the half.
The Corsairs shot 54 percent over the first 20 minutes, including 22 points in the paint while out-rebounding the Colonials 24-16 to hold a 50-33 lead at the break.
UMass Dartmouth then proceeded to expand on its advantage throughout the beginning of the second half. After Bridtter made the first basket, the Corsairs buried the next two to up the lead to 19, the largest of the game.
Western Connecticut bounced back midway through the half, cutting its deficit to as little as eight with 6:37 remaining. Any permanent comeback was quelled by the hosts, however, as the Corsairs then embarked on a 9-2 streak, upping the score to 81-66 to keep a double-digit lead for the closing three minutes.
Bridtter scored 14 of his points in the last 20 minutes to help the Colonials outscore UMass Dartmouth 44-40 on the second half, but the Corsairs went 12-of-16 from the charity stripe on the stanza to preserve the victory.
The Colonials close the season at 15-11 after completing the conference circuit 8-6. UMass Dartmouth's semifinal will tip off at 5 p.m. in Willimantic, Conn. on Saturday.
