WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team shouldered a tough overtime loss at Eastern Connecticut State on Wednesday night by a final score of 78-76. The Corsairs now own a 2-7 mark in the Little East Conference (LEC) while the Warriors improve to a 4-6 record in league play.
The Warriors took an early 6-2 lead to start the game with junior
Ryan Flauto scoring the opening bucket for the Corsairs. First year
Camden DiChiara knocked down a shot from long range for his first points of the contest to give UMass Dartmouth their first advantage at 7-6. Both teams exchanged free throws for the next few minutes of play to keep the score close until junior
John Marcille drained a triple off the feed from classmate
Nic Boyd to make it 14-11. Shortly after, Boyd answered with a three-pointer of his own to extend the Corsairs lead to 17-13 with 9:05 left in the first half.
Eastern Connecticut State soon regained a one-point edge with their 7-2 run, but sophomore
Trent Santos responded by clipping in two shots from behind the arc to go up 25-22. With 1:17 remaining in the half, graduate student
Isaac Percy knocked down a triple, the sixth three-pointer of the half for UMass Dartmouth, however the Warriors scored the last six points of the opening half to take a 33-28 lead heading into halftime.
Junior
Josh Lopes brought the Corsairs within one point with his back-to-back triples early in the second half. A few minutes later, junior
Cam Dunbury posted his first points of the night to make it 41-40 Warriors. The home team began to pull away with a nine-point advantage thanks to a 9-1 run nearing the midway point of the second half. The Corsairs continued to fight back as Flauto tacked on a couple of buckets which was followed by a triple from Lopes to keep the Warriors within striking distance.
Dominick Dao finished a layup to give Eastern Connecticut State their largest lead of the game at 10 points with 5:50 remaining in regulation. UMass Dartmouth quickly answered by generating a 9-2 run that was finished off with a three-pointer from DiChiara to make it one possession game. Percy completed an and-one play before Marcille made both free throws to send the game into overtime knotted up at 66-apiece.
Flauto wasted no time getting UMass Dartmouth on the board dropping four points to give the visitors a 70-68 edge. After the Warriors went ahead 72-70, Percy tied the score at 72-apeice with his tough basket to the rim with 2:37 on the clock. Despite the Corsairs late rally, Julian Sanchez hit a buzzer beater for the Warriors to seal their win by a final score of 78-76.
Lopes ended the game with 16 points (4-12 FG, 3-5 3-FG, 5-6 FT) with two rebounds and a pair of assists. Flauto ended the night with 15 points going 6-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from the line with four boards and two steals. Percy also scored double digits with 13 points (5-13 FG, 1-7 3-FG, 2-3 FT) to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and a block. DiChiara was the fourth Corsair to record double figures on the night with 10 points (3-7 FG, 2-4 3-FG, 2-5 FT). Marcille hauled in a season-high nine rebounds, five defensive and four offensive, along with seven points, three assists, and a pair of steals.
UMass Dartmouth will host Plymouth State University for their next conference matchup on Saturday, Feb. 1. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. from the Tripp Athletic Center.
