DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team fell against Rhode Island College during Little East Conference (LEC) action by a final score of 87-85 on Wednesday night. The loss drops the Corsairs to 0-3 in league play while the Anchormen improved to a 4-0 conference record.
Rhode Island jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead after Louden Chupas knocked down a triple to open the scoring. Junior center
Cam Dunbury scored the opening five points for the Corsairs highlighted by a dunk off the lob from classmate
Josh Lopes to make it 7-5 game. The Anchormen posted a pair of three-pointers to help take a 15-7 lead with 12:56 left in the first half.
Junior guard
Nic Boyd returned to the court for UMass Dartmouth after suffering an injury early in the season and banked in his first basket of the night at the 10:44 mark. Shortly after, first years
Camden DiChiara and
Danny Reyes each drained back-to-back triples for the Corsairs crossing the midway point of the half to cut Rhode Island's advantage down to six points. Graduate student guard
Isaac Percy went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to close the score gap to 21-25.
An 11-2 run by the Anchormen which was finished off by a triple from CJ Wilson gave the visitors a 13-point cushion with under five minutes left in the half. UMass Dartmouth answered by stringing together nine consecutive points featuring a three-pointer from Boyd once again narrow Rhode Island's lead down to 36-32. The Anchormen held off the late push by the Corsairs taking a 40-32 edge at the break.
Junior guard
John Marcille kicked off the second half with a good layup off the helper from Lopes. Rhode Island continued to capitalize on offense taking a 50-40 lead thanks to a 10-4 run. After Wilson drained another triple for the Anchormen, the Corsairs battled back generating an 11-0 run that was started by a three-pointer from Marcille and finished with a triple by Boyd to narrow Rhode Island's led to just one-point.
The Anchormen quickly regained an 11-point edge after connecting 10 straight points. At the 9:23 mark, Dunbury shifted momentum back to the Corsairs with his slam dunk off the lob from Boyd. DiChiara then knocked down a triple followed by a good jumper from Lopes with 7:26 left in the game to make it 68-63. Marcille and DiChiara each drained a shot from range with under five minutes remaining, respectively, to keep the game close.
In the final minute of the contest, DiChiara clips in his fourth three-pointer to make it a one possession game. With 37 seconds on the clock, Dunbury finished a tip-in before Marcille went 3-for-3 at the line after Mie Paquette committed the foul to tie the score up at 85-apeiece. Ousmane Kourouma made a tough basket with two seconds left to cement Rhode Island's narrow win by a final score of 87-85.
Dunbury recorded his first double-double as a Corsair, his third in his career, after scoring 15 points (6-13 FG, 3-4 FT) and hauling in a team-high 12 rebounds. He also led the squad with three blocks and produced two steals in the game. Marcille also ended the night with 15 points (3-5 FG, 2-4 3-FG, 7-7 FT) along with nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. Lopes (5-15 FG, 4-4 FT) and DiChiara (5-7 FG, 4-6 3-FG) each dropped 14 points for UMass Dartmouth with Lopes dishing out a game-high eight assists.
UMass Dartmouth are on the road for their next Little East tilt on Saturday, Jan. 11 traveling to Vermont State University Castleton. The game is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. from Castleton, Vt.
