CASTLETON, Vt. - Six members of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team scored in double figures en route to an 88-74 victory at Castleton to cap off one of the best regular seasons in the storied history of the program.
Graduate student
Jake Ashworth led the Corsairs (22-3, 14-2 LEC) with 19 points on 6-of-10 from deep and added seven rebounds. Sophomore
Mike Eurquhart finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior
Jackson Zancan had 12 and eight boards. Also in double figures were senior
Adam Seablom (12), 5th-year senior
Jarron Santos (10) and sophomore
Isaac Percy (10). UMass Dartmouth received 34 points from its bench and shot 48 percent from long range (12-25).
Sophomore Darrell Hardge was the top scorer for the Spartans (5-20, 0-16 LEC) with 20 points and five assists.
Castleton, who came into the game on a 16-game losing streak, hung around with the top team in the conference and even led during the first half. Ashworth, Seablom and Zancan all stuck 3-pointers in the first three minutes of action, but the Spartans responded to each shot and a three of their own gave the home team a 14-13 advantage at the 16:13 mark of the first. Ashworth drilled another from beyond the arc, but it was the Corsairs who had to keep up with Castelton. The Spartans held onto a slim lead until Percy knocked down a three and Zancan scored in the paint to give UMassD the lead for good, 28-27, with 9:47 in the half.
UMass Dartmouth had trouble extending its lead. A pair of 3-pointers from Ashworth made it 48-43 in the final minute, but a Castelton jumper brought the halftime score to 48-45.
The Spartans started the second by hitting a triple to tie the game at 48 with 18:34 to go. Points in the paint by Zancan and an and-1 from Leahy made it a five-point game, but another 3-ball by the Spartans cut it back to 53-51. The lead started increasing at the 14:48 mark of the second when Eurquhart sunk two at the line, Seablom made a layup, and Ashworth converted on a 4-point play. Seablom and Eurquhart kept it going to extend the lead to 69-57 with 11:52 on the clock.
A quick 7-2 run by the Spartans was answered with a Seablom three to spark a 12-2 run with that was capped off by a Percy 3-pointer to bring the lead to 83-66 with 3:03 to go. Santos made one more three for good measure to put the game away.
The top-seeded Corsairs now look ahead to the Little East Conference Tournament, which begins Tuesday at 7:15 at the Tripp Athletic Center. UMass Dartmouth will take on the winner of the eight-nine game between Southern Maine and Castleton.
