Corsairs Men's Basketball Falls Just Short at Home

.DARTMOUTH, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team fell just short in a nail-biter conference matchup with Southern Maine, 77-74. 

The Corsairs drop to 3-9 overall and 2-2 in the LEC, while the Huskies improve to 9-5 and 3-2 in conference play.

5th-year senior Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer netted a career-high 29 points with four 3-pointers and 10 rebounds. Junior Isaac Percy tallied 12 points and four rebounds. Two Corsairs scored in double-digits off the bench, coming from senior John Martins Jr. with 12 points and freshman Nic Boyd with 10. 
 
For Southern Maine, junior Chance Dixon led the way with 21 points, followed by senior Cody Hawes who had eight assists along with his 20 points. 

UMass Dartmouth fell behind early, allowing an 18-5 run to start the game. Percy made his presence felt early with a few strong buckets in the paint to help even the game up at 21. Sanders-Dyer started to heat up at the end of the half, but the Corsairs went into the break trailing 32-30. 
 
USM came out in the second half feeling it from deep, extending their lead back to 14 points off a few threes from Dixon and junior Simon Chadbourne. Sanders-Dyer responded with a couple of his own three-pointers, along with two more buckets, before committing back-to-back fouls to bring him to four total. Head coach Brian Baptiste was forced to take out the hot hand with 8:27 remaining to save him for the end of the game. 
 
With Sanders-Dyer on the bench, Percy, Boyd, and senior Jackson Zancan stepped up with some big-time buckets to bring the Corsairs back within five. In the final minutes of regulation, Sanders-Dyer hit a couple of free throws and Zancan made a layup to put the Corsairs down one with 38 seconds remaining. 
 
UMD was unable to get a stop, allowing a layup to Hawes to put the Huskies back up by three at the 17 second mark. Baptiste took a time out and drew up a play to try to send the game to overtime. Sanders-Dyer had two opportunities to complete the comeback for the Corsairs, but his final attempt hit the front rim at the sound of the buzzer, and UMass Dartmouth fell 77-74. 

The Corsairs led the way in second-chance points, bench scoring, and fast break points in the loss.

UMassD returns to action on Monday when they travel to Western Connecticut to face the Wolves in a 3 PM Little East Conference matchup.