Corsairs Win Big on Senior Day, Advance to LEC Tournament

Dartmouth, Mass. – Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer finishes with 27 points in a big win over Castleton University on Senior Day. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team forced 25 turnovers on defense and limited the Spartans to just one three-pointer as they run away with an 82-40 victory on Saturday.
 
The Corsairs' overall record advances to 8-17, and they advance to the Little East Conference (LEC) Tournament with a conference record of 7-9. The Spartans' season concludes with a record of 3-21, and finished winless against conference opponents.  

UMass Dartmouth's fifth-year senior Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer had the hot-hand in what will be his final game at the Tripp Center. He shot the lights out from deep, going 5-for-10 (50.0%) and went 10-of-19 (52.6%) from the floor. After pulling away with a big lead, Sanders-Dyer was pulled from the floor to a standing ovation from the home crowd as he finished with 27 points, four rebounds, three assists and seven steals. Senior Jackson Zancan, who plans to return for a fifth season, tallied 15 points and sank both of his three-point attempts. The other senior who played his last game on the Tripp Center court was John Martins Jr., who recorded 10 points, going 3-for-5 from the field. 

Castleton struggled to get anything going on offense against this Corsairs' defense. Grad student Tay Wright led the way for the Spartans with 13 points. The Spartans as a team went 1-for-16 from deep, and turned the ball over 25 times. UMass Dartmouth cashed in 30 points off of turnovers this game, 16 of which came on fast breaks. The Corsairs also won the rebound battle 43-27.  
 
Sanders-Dyer and Zancan made their presence felt immediately, scoring 12 early points together in the first five minutes. The pair helped give UMassD an early double-digit lead that they would only build on for the remainder of the contest. With five minutes remaining in the first half, Sanders-Dyer really opened it up with back-to-back threes, followed by a mid-range jumper to extend the lead to 21. Zancan closed out the half with his second three of the night and another layup, and the Corsairs went into the break up 45-16. 
 
The Corsairs continued to stroke it in the second half, opening the half by sinking three straight threes from Sanders-Dyer, Martins Jr., and Isaac Percy (junior). Percy sunk another three and then two more buckets inside to put the Corsairs up by 41 points with 10 minutes left. Sanders-Dyer sunk another three to reach 27 points, before anticipating a pass that he stole and barely missed a thunderous dunk attempt to cap off his big night. 
 
Up more than 40 points, Head Coach Brian Baptiste was able to sub in the reserves to close out the game. The Corsairs cruised to an 82-40 victory, and would later find out that Plymouth State got the win the Corsairs' needed over Rhode Island College, helping UMass Dartmouth earn a spot in the LEC Tournament. 
 
UMass Dartmouth's season is not over, as they look to make a run in the Little East Conference Tournament next week. Date and opponent TBD