DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team avenged yesterday's opening loss with a 89-75 victory over Albertus Magnus College in the Consolation game of the 26th Annual Lafrance Hospitality Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Corsairs pick up their first win of 2024 and are now 1-2 overall, while the Falcons are now 0-5 on the young season.
In the opening half of action, the Corsairs broke open a close game with a 9-0 run, which included a three-pointer from junior guard
John Marcille and a pair of layups from graduate student guard
Isaac Percy. Holding a 16-5 advantage, the home team continued to keep the Falcons at bay, widening their lead to 24-9 on a driving layup from junior guard
Josh Lopes with 12:27 to play.
Albertus Magnus mounted a comeback, closing the gap to 27-12 on a free throw make by junior forward Deivone Tanksley, but a three from rookie guard
Camden DiChiara made it a 17-point margin (30-13) for the Corsairs with 11:11 to go. The visiting Falcons used a 5-0 run, including several free throws from Tanksley to close the margin to 32-23, but layups from graduate student forward
Michael Eurquhart Jr., and Percy helped the Corsairs continue to hold the advantage late.
The Falcons countered with three pointers from junior guards Ray Ford Jr., and Ta'zhon Daniels as the teams headed into the intermission with UMass Dartmouth up 44-31.
Second half action saw the Corsairs continue their strong pace as graduate guard
Jayquan Leonard dropped in a layup in the opening minute for the 46-31 lead. That bucket was part of a 5-0 run with a Marcille three capping the effort. Another Marcille trey at 16:37, coupled with a layup from
Trent Santos saw the home team's lead open to 54-36 with 15:58 to play.
A bucket from Ford Jr., helped to cut the Falcons deficit (58-41), but six straight points, including four from junior center
Ryan Flauto saw the gap widen to 64-41 with 12:11 remaining. Albertus Magnus continued to respond as graduate guard Kevin Crawford and Daniels each dropped in buckets, but the Corsairs offense held pace as both Santos and Percy nailed three-pointer for a 70-47 UMassD lead with 10:02 on the clock.
UMass Dartmouth continued to utilize outstanding shooting from beyond the arc as Santos his second trey of the game, giving the Corsairs seven on the afternoon. Leading 79-57, the visiting Falcons responded as rookie forward Colin Garretson sank a layup, followed by a three from classmate and fellow forward Lennox Serrano to close the gap to 79-62 with 5:18 left in the contest.
The Falcons continued to push late, backed by buckets from Daniels and Serrano. Following a timeout with 1:50 remaining, Albertus Magnus used another solid run to close the gap to 85-73, but the Corsairs capitalized late at the line to hold for the final margin.
UMass Dartmouth was led by a game-high 24 points from Lopes, who went 8-of-15 from the field (53.3%), 2-of-5 from three-point range (40.0%) and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. He also added five assists, a block, three steals and two rebounds. Marcille added 18 points, including three shots from beyond the arc, with a team-high seven rebounds and two assists.
Percy added 11 points on 5-of-7 (71.4%) shooting from the field, adding six boards and an assist, while Leonard posted a game-high four steals. Flauto also had a solid game, dropping in 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting (75.0%) from the floor with six boards and assist and a steal.
As a team, the Corsairs shot 52.5% (32-61) from the floor, dropping in nine three pointers and going 69.6% (16-23) from the free throw line.
The Corsairs return to action on Tuesday when they host Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 7pm in the Tripp Athletic Center.
