PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The UMass Dartmouth men's basketball team saw their 2024-25 season come to an end after falling 80-64 to No. 3 seeded Rhode Island College on Tuesday night during the Little East Conference (LEC) First Round game. The Corsairs finished the year with 9-17 overall record and a 6-10 mark in conference play while the Anchormen advance to the semifinal round with a 16-10 overall record.
Junior guard
Josh Lopes finished a driving layup to kick off the scoring in the opening half of the game before nailing a triple to give the Corsairs a 5-4 edge. At the 14:58 mark, graduate student captain drained his first bucket of the night from behind the arc to keep UMass Dartmouth ahead by two. The Anchormen regained a 12-10 lead after Deyshawn Tengbeh made a driving layup, but junior center
Ryan Flauto responded by scoring the next eight points for the Corsairs to take an 18-12 advantage. After Xavier Mendez drilled a three-pointer at the midway point to give Rhode Island a 21-18 edge, sophomore
Trent Santos finished a pull-up jumper to cut the home team's lead down to just one point.
The Anchormen went on an 8-1 run kick started by a dunk from Ousmane Kourouma to give the home side a nine-point advantage. Lopes briefly disrupted their momentum with his hook shot, however Rhode Island continued to pull away with a 40-25 lead with under five minutes left in the half. Percy knocked down a triple with 3:52 on the clock before first years
Danny Reyes and
Camden DiChiara each added a late bucket, but the Anchormen headed into the break with a 50-36 cushion.
Lopes finished a pair of free throws early in the second half before Reyes laid in on another bucket to make it a 12-point game. Rhode Island soon answered by generating a 7-0 run finished off by a good three-pointer from CJ Wilson to extend the Anchormen's advantage to 59-40. At the 13:18 mark, Reyes clipped in a shot from long range followed by two free throws from Santos to make it 65-46. Rhode Island maintained their lead for the remainder of the contest as both teams scored 15 points in the final ten minutes of the half to seal the Anchormen's win by a final score of 80-64.
Flauto led the team with 13 points on the night, going 6-for-13 from the field to go along with five rebounds. Percy followed with 12 points making 3-of-9 shots from the floor, 2-of-7 from behind the arc, and 4-of-6 from the line with four boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Santos also ended the game in double digits with 10 points (3-9 FG, 1-7 3-FG, 3-4 FT) as well as three rebounds, one assist, and a steal. Graduate student
Michael Eurquhart Jr. and Reyes each hauled in six rebounds apiece while DiChiara led the team with his two steals on the night.
For the latest on UMass Dartmouth athletics, follow the Corsairs via social media on
Twitter,
Facebook,
YouTube, and
Instagram.
