DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team shouldered a narrow loss against Western Connecticut State University, 96-94, during the final regular season game on Saturday afternoon from the Tripp Athletic Center. The Corsairs wrapped the 2024-25 regular season with a 9-16 overall record and a 6-10 mark in Little East Conference (LEC) play. Despite the loss, UMass Dartmouth secured the No. 6 seed for the LEC Tournament and will travel to No. 3 seed Rhode Island College for a First Round tilt on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Graduate student
Michael Eurquhart Jr. got the Corsairs on the scoreboard with his layup to tie the game up at 2-2. Graduate student captain
Isaac Percy laid in his first bucket of the contest followed by another good layup from Eurquhart to put UMass Dartmouth up 8-5. Cameron Gallon nailed back-to-back triples for the Wolves to give the visitors a 13-10 edge, but first year
Camden DiChiara answered with a three-pointer off the feed from Percy to even the score back up at 13-apeice. The Corsairs strung six straight points together featuring four points by junior center
Ryan Flauto take back a two-point led at the midway point of the opening half.
Western Connecticut State responded with a 7-0 run finished off by a dunk from Gallon to make it 26-23 Wolves. Graduate student
Jayquan Leonard knotted the score up at 26-apiece with his three-pointer off the assist from sophomore
Trent Santos. Tied at 30-apeice, Santos scored five of the next eight points for UMass Dartmouth to regain a 38-32 advantage. Percy soon knocked down a triple with 2:23 left on the clock to extend the home team's lead to seven points. Both teams exchanged late buckets in last two minutes of action, but the Corsairs held on to a 47-45 edge at the break.
UMass Dartmouth started the second half strong, generating a 7-0 run featuring a triple from DiChiara to pull the Corsairs away with a nine point advantage. Gallon cut the Corsairs lead down to four points with his three-pointer at the 15:01 mark. UMass Dartmouth responded by clipping in four triples featuring a pair from DiChiara and one apiece from first year
Danny Reyes and Percy to give the Corsairs an 12-point lead. Under ten minutes left in the contest, Tayejon Lynch drained two three-pointers in a row for the Wolves to narrow the Corsairs advantage to just two points.
At the 6:05 mark, Western Connecticut State tied the score up at 77-77 thanks to a triple by Jahlyl Morgan. DiChiara hit a three-pointer shortly after to regain an 83-81 lead entering the final five minutes of the game. Percy kicked started a 7-0 run with his three-pointer before DiChiara finished a tip-in to give UMass Dartmouth a 92-84 advantage with 1:33 remaining. Gallon made it a two-point contest with his three-pointer along with a pair of free throws with 38 seconds on the clock. The Wolves fought until the end finishing two late buckets to seal their late comeback win by a final score of 96-94.
DiChiara posted a career-high 33 points going 10-for-14 from the field, 7-for-7 from behind the arc, and 6-for-6 from the line. He also ended the game with four rebounds, one assist, and a steal. Percy also scored double figures with 15 points (6-13 FG, 3-5 3-FG) to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocks. Flauto finished the afternoon with 14 points going 7-for-11 from the floor with three boards, two assists, and steal. Santos capped off the game with 12 points (4-7 FG, 1-4 3-FG, 3-4 FT) as well as three assists, one assist, and a steal.
The Corsairs secured the No. 6 seed in the 2024-25 Little East Conference Tournament and will travel to No. 3 seed Rhode Island College on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The LEC First Round game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
