DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team were edged by Eastern Connecticut State University, 68-66, in Little East Conference (LEC) play on Saturday from the Tripp Athletic Center. The Corsairs fall to 0-2 in league action while the Warriors pick up their first conference victory of the season.
The Warriors got to work early scoring the first seven points of the game in the opening three minutes of play, respectively. Junior
Ryan Flauto got the Corsairs offense going with a pair of layups followed shortly by a basket from classmate
John Marcille to make it a one-point game. At the 12:29 mark, graduate student
Isaac Percy laid in his first bucket of the afternoon before draining a triple to even the score at 11-apeice.
Junior
Josh Lopes gave UMass Dartmouth a brief lead after clipping in both free throws, but Eastern Connecticut State quickly responded regaining an 18-15 advantage with under eight minutes in the first half. The visitors soon found their rhythm on offense again stringing together another seven points to go ahead 26-15. Percy went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe while Marcille knocked down a triple in the last two minutes of the half, but the Warriors took a 33-24 lead heading into halftime.
UMass Dartmouth started the second half strong as Lopes scored the opening four points followed by a triple from Percy to bring the home team within three points. Dominick Dao answered for the Warriors draining two three-pointers to make it 42-33 with 16:11 on the clock. Trailing 51-42, graduate student
Michael Eurquhart Jr. scored his first basket of the game at the 11:27 mark.
With 6:11 remaining in the game, Marcille kicked off a late 9-0 rally for the Corsairs featuring a jumper by first year
Camden DiChiara to narrow Eastern Connecticut's lead down to just one point. The Warriors pulled away to a 63-60 edge before Lopes answered with a three-pointer to tie the game up at 63-63. Lopes came up big again for UMass Dartmouth knocking down another triple with 34 seconds on the clock to make it 67-66, but the Warriors outlasted the Corsairs late effort to seal a 68-66 win.
Percy led the squad with 19 points (5-14 FG, 2-5 3-FG, 7-8 FT) along with four rebounds, one assist, and a block. Lopes ended the game with 16 points (5-9 FG, 2-2 3-FG, 4-4 FT) and a team-high three steals while Marcille scored 12 points (4-10 FG, 2-8 3-FG, 2-2 FT) with six rebounds and a block. First year
Danny Reyes hauled in a team-high seven rebounds along with four points and four assists.
UMass Dartmouth hosts Rhode Island College for their next LEC match up on Wednesday, Jan. 8 slated to start at 6:00 p.m.
