DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Powered by a career night from sophomore
John Marcille, the UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team edged Western Connecticut, 87-84, in a Little East Conference thriller on Saturday at the Tripp Athletic Center. The Corsairs have won eight of their last nine, moving them to 9-6 overall and 6-1 in the LEC. The Wolves dip to 13-4 with a 6-2 mark in conference play.
Western Connecticut held a 42-39 lead after the opening half of play. The Corsairs kept the score tight throughout the half, thanks in part to Marcille, who got hot early on. He went a smoldering 4 for 5 from deep in the first half, and went into the break with 12 points.
The second half of action was electrifying from start to finish. These evenly-matched squads experienced 22 total lead changes throughout the contest. It was the Wolves who pulled ahead early in the second half. Grad student Jaheim Young was fouled on a break, leading to two made free throws to go up by five with 16:21 on the clock.
Marcille picked up where he left off in the first half, answering the WestConn run with a pull-up jumper followed by his fifth three-pointer of the game, giving the Corsairs a 2-point lead. The Wolves retook the lead with a three ball of their own from sophomore Jaysean Morgan. Fifth year senior
Jackson Zancan went 4 for 4 from the free throw line on two straight trips that put the Corsairs up by one with 8:46 to go. Zancan was followed up by the sophomore duo of Marcille and
Nic Boyd. Boyd sank his second three-pointer of the day, followed by a layup and then another three from Marcille. That three marked Marcille's career-high sixth three-pointer of the game, and gave UMD a 70-65 advantage with 6:33 to go.
After the Marcille three, you could feel the momentum in the building completely shift to the Corsairs, thanks to a chase-down block by one of the squad's newest addition in sophomore
Cam Dunbury. With 2:46 remaining, senior
Jayquan Leonard hit one of the biggest shots of the night, sinking a three that put the Corsairs up by their largest lead of the game at 76-68. Marcille had one more mark to leave on this game, throwing down a thunderous slam on a fast break opportunity at the :52 mark. The Wolves fought their way back within two points, but the Corsairs closed it out with efficient free-throw shooting from Dunbury and sophomore
Josh Lopes.
Western Connecticut, paced throughout by Young, saw the graduate forward score 21 points on 7 of 12 from the field. The Wolves saw double-digit scoring from two other players, in their juniors Jourdan Belcher and Keeshawn Jones. As a team, WestConn outpaced the Corsairs in points off of turnovers (26-17), fast break points (31-13), and points in the paint (48-28).
UMass Dartmouth was paced by Marcille's game-high 26 points on 7 for 10 from the field and a scorching hot 6 for 8 from deep. Marcille also hauled in seven rebounds to round out his career-night. Zancan posted 19 points and four assists. Leonard added 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. The Corsairs outscored the Wolves in second chance points (13-11) and shot the three ball at a 44.4% clip.
UMass Dartmouth hits the road on Wednesday, traveling to Keene State for a 7:30pm LEC game against the Owls.
