CAMBRDIGE, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth opened their 2024-25 season on the road against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Saturday afternoon falling to the Engineers by a final score of 87-77. The Corsairs start the season 0-1 while the Engineers improved to 1-0 on the year.
Junior center
Ryan Flauto laid in the first basket of the year before junior guard
Josh Lopes drained five points to put the Corsairs up 7-4 in the opening minutes of the game. After Isaac Dobie evened the score up at 7-7 with a three-pointer, graduate student
Isaac Percy posted his first points of the game with a layup and triple to make it 14-9.
Midway through the first half, the Corsairs continued to push their lead as Percy and Lopes each knocked down a three-pointer to extend UMass Dartmouth's advantage to 24-13. Kade Kileen soon answered for the Engineers sinking a triple to cut the Corsairs lead down to seven points. Rome Delgado-Gonzalez made it a four-point game with a good driving layup but junior guard
Nic Boyd responded by draining his first shot from behind the arc off the assist from classmate
John Marcille.
MIT regained the lead after going on an 8-0 run highlighted by a triple and two good free throws by Wyatt Mowery to claim a 30-29 edge. Marcille responded for the Corsairs with a three-pointer off the pass from graduate student
Jayquan Leonard. Both teams exchanged late points before the Engineers pulled away in the last three minutes of the half thanks to a 9-0 run to head into the break ahead 45-40.
The home team started strong on offense to kick off the second half as Parker Spann laid in a basket to extend the Engineers advantage into double digits. Sophomore guard
Trent Santos finished a pair of free throws for his first points in the Corsair uniform to make it 56-46. A layup by Delgado-Gonzalez gave MIT their largest lead of the afternoon at 15-points with 16 minutes left in the game.
Marcille knocked down three triples in a row for UMass Dartmouth to cut the Engineers advantage to 69-61. Shortly after Flauto finished two good free throws, Leonard drained a triple with 6:29 left in the game narrowing the home team's advantage to five points.
The Engineers pulled away late in the half after making 7-of-8 free throws to take a 79-70 lead. Despite a late effort by the Corsairs the Engineers held on to defeat UMass Dartmouth by a final score of 87-77.
Lopes led the Corsairs offense with a team-high 18 points (7-18 FG, 2-5 3-FG, 2-3 F) to go along with six rebounds and four assists. Percy scored 14 points (5-10 FG, 2-5 3-FG, 2-3 FT) with four rebounds, one assist, and a block while Flauto and Marcillle each tallied 12 points apiece. Marcille knocked down a team-high four triples along with two steals. On the defensive end,
Michael Eurquhart Jr. led the squad with four total blocks to go along with four bounds.
The Corsairs return home to host the 2024 Lafrance Hospitality Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 16 against Husson University. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. from the Tripp Athletic Center.
