WORCESTER, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team fell on the road against nationally ranked No. 19 Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), 94-77, on Tuesday night from the Harrington Auditorium. The Corsairs move to a 3-1 overall record on the season while the Engineers improved to a 3-0 mark on the year.
The Corsairs jumped out to an early 4-0 edge over the Engineers thanks to a basket apiece by first year guard
Mahdee McNair and sophomore guard
Danny Reyes. After senior center
Cam Dunbury posted his first points of the night to make it 6-2, WPI went on a 10-0 run to take a 12-6 lead in the game. UMass Dartmouth added points from the charity stripe followed by a good layup from first year guard
Strada Joseph to narrow the home team's advantage to four points.
Midway through the opening half, senior center
Ryan Flauto grabbed an offensive board before finishing a layup for his first points of the contest. After Dunbury produced the next four points for the Corsairs, first year guard
Isaiah Makor made a driving bucket inside the paint to make it 31-21 with six minutes left in the half. Nathan Bledsoe knocked down a triple to WPI ahead 41-23 lead, but UMass Dartmouth answered with a 7-0 run highlighted by a three-pointer by McNair off the assist from senior guard
Nic Boyd. Despite a late basket from Joseph, the Engineers took a 45-36 advantage heading into halftime.
McNair started the second half strong for UMass Dartmouth by finishing an and-one play to cut the Engineers lead down to 45-37. Dunbury kept the Corsairs offense going scoring six straight points followed by a four-point effort from Reyes approaching the 13-minute mark. Senior guard
Darius Peterson drained his first triple of the night with 11:53 on the clock to make it a 66-54 game. The Engineers responded by going on a 10-2 run to take a 20-point advantage over the Corsairs.
With under seven minutes of action remaining, McNair kicked off an 8-2 run for UMass Dartmouth with a jump shot before Peterson tipped in a basket to make it 82-66. Reyes knocked down a late three-pointer for the Corsairs, but the Engineers held on to defeat UMass Dartmouth by a final score of 94-77 in non-conference play.
Dunbury led the team with a season-high 18 points after going 7-for-11 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. He also hauled in a team-high nine rebounds to go along with two blocks, one assist, and a steal. Reyes also scored in double figures with 17 points (6-10 FG, 1-1 3FG, 4-4 FT) as well as four boards and two assists. McNair finished the night with 13 points (5-17 FG, 1-5 3FG, 2-3 FT) while also recording six rebounds, two steals, and a block. Peterson tallied his second double digit game of the season with 12 points going 4-for-7 from the field with one triple (1-4) and making 3-of-4 shots from the charity stripe.
UMass Dartmouth returns to action on Friday, November 21 hosting Babson College for their next non-conference tilt starting at 7:00 p.m. from the Tripp Athletic Center.
