Corsairs Fall to WestConn in LEC Semifinal

DANBURY, Conn. -   The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team's run in the Little East Conference Tournament comes to an end in the Semifinal against Western Connecticut State University by a score of 94-75. 
 
The Corsairs were led by fifth-year senior Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer with 15 points, which all came from behind the arc (5-11), five rebounds, six assists and five steals. Senior Jackson Zancan tallied 14 points and played 37 minutes. Freshmen Nic Boyd and John Marcille added valuable minutes off the bench, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively. Marcille grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds as well.
 
For Western Connecticut, senior Kendall Robinson and junior Jalen Jackson led six players in double figures.Robinson finished with a game-high 16 points while Jackson added 14 points for the Wolves. Sophomore Keeshawn Jones and senior Jaheim Young poured in 11 points each grad student Jordon Brown joined James Rhodes (sophomore) with 10 points apiece. Robinson also collected a game-high six rebounds and blocked four Corsairs' shots.

In the first half, the Wolves used a balanced scoring attack with nine players lighting up the scoreboard on their way to a 50-28 advantage at intermission. Jackson scored 12 of his 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.  He connected on two of his three attempts from beyond the arc.  The point sharing continued as all five starters netted at least 10 points.

Over the first 20 minutes, WestConn led the entire way, but the Corsairs, which trailed by seven points, 14-7 in the early going, pulled with a duce, 18-16 following a layup from Zancan with 11:57 remaining before the break.

In fewer than three minutes, the hosts built its lead up to 10 points, 29-19, following a bank shot from Jackson at the 9:00 mark of the first stanza.  Their lead remained in double digits throughout the rest of the half and the lead climbed to over 30 points during a stretch in the second half.

The Corsairs were dug into too deep a hole in the second half to make a comeback late, and fell to the LEC-second-seed WestConn, 94-75. UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team's season concludes with this Semifinal-exit from the LEC Tournament. 
 
WestConn, now 22-4, will face Keene State College, the leagues regular-season champion and tournament top seed, on Saturday, February 25 in southern New Hampshire for the LEC Championship Game.