DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Powered by a dominant second half where the Corsairs outscored the Huskies 42-27, the UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team defeated Southern Maine, 79-66, in Little East action on Saturday. The win saw the Corsairs move to 14-9 overall and 11-3 in the LEC. The Huskies drop to 12-11 with a 7-7 mark in conference play. Prior to the game, fifth-year senior
Jackson Zancan was celebrated on Senior Day.
The Corsairs were paced by sophomore
Nic Boyd, who put up a game-high 22 points off the bench. Boyd lit it up from all areas of the floor, going 7 for 11 (63.6%) from the field and 5 for 8 (62.5%) from deep. Sophomore
Ryan Flauto continues his stretch of career-games, one-upping his last outing with a 17-point performance on 7 for 7 (100.0%) from the floor and 3 for 3 (100.0%) from the free throw line. Senior
Isaac Percy turned it on late, tallying 17 points of his own along with five boards.
Southern Maine, paced throughout by Tommy Whelan, saw the sophomore guard score 19 points while going 6 for 12 (50.0%) from the field and 7 for 7 (100.0%) from the charity stripe. Whelan also recorded seven rebounds and four assists. Senior Chance Dixon followed him up with 15 points on 50.0% shooting.
UMass Dartmouth entered the second half of action trailing, 39-27. The Huskies led by as much as 13 points at the 6:19 mark of the first half, before the Corsairs went on a 17-6 run to close out the half. The end-of-half run was headed by Zancan, who scored the final six points of the half for the Corsairs, including a strong drive through the lane that he finished with a two-handed dunk.
Southern Maine claimed a six-point lead after a layup from fifth-year senior Cody Hawes at the 18:00 mark, before the Corsairs went on another run that swung the momentum of the game. UMass Dartmouth went on a 10-2 stretch, thanks to seven quick points from Flauto and a Boyd three-pointer that gave the Corsairs their first lead of the day at the 12:37 mark of the second half.
Leading 56-55 with 8:14 on the clock, UMass Dartmouth went on yet another run to stretch their lead. This run came on the back of their defense, going on a 12-0 run that put them up by 13 points with 5:33 to go. After that point, Southern Maine was unable to bring the margin back within double-digits, as the Corsairs closed out the game with clutch free throw shooting, defeating USM, 79-66 at the final horn.
The Corsairs return to action on Wednesday, hosting Keene State in Little East action. Wednesday is also the Student Athlete Advisory Committee's Game of the Week. Tipoff is set for 7:30pm at the Tripp Athletic Center.
