BOSTON, Mass.—UMass Boston men's basketball held off a late surge from Vermont Tech College, to earn a 74-70 win over the Knights and a spot in the 31st Harbor Invitational Championship Game.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 74, Vermont Tech 70
(UMass Boston 3-1, Little East 0-0)
(Vermont Tech 2-5, Yankee Conference 0-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Freshman Maurice Magras (Medford, Mass.) and senior Quadry Allen (White Castle, La.) each recorded career-highs in points and junior Sam Freeman (Boston, Mass.) posted his first collegiate double-double, to lead the Beacons to their fourth-straight win on Day One of the Harbor Invite.
Magras, who earned just his second collegiate start in the win, finished with a team-high 19 points, including 5-of-9 shooting from distance. The freshman poured in 12 points in the first half and easily eclipsed the 16 combined points he had scored in the team's first three games.
Allen added 17 points on 4-of-7 shooting from distance and added seven rebounds, four steals and three steals in his second-consecutive strong outing. Both players were nearly overshadowed by Freeman. The junior big man tied his career-high with 12 points and added a career-best 19 rebounds in 30 minutes of work.
Senior Michael Campbell (Boston, Mass.) dealt with foul trouble all game long, but still finished with his second-straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
For the Knights, BJ Conaway (25 points) and Kyle Connor (18 points) overcame sluggish starts to finish with 43 of the team's 70 points. Big men Logan White (seven rebounds) and Kyle Rowles (nine rebounds) also finished in double-digits with 13 and 11 points respectively.
Despite leading from start-to-finish, UMass Boston struggled to put away their pesky United State Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) foes.
The Beacons raced out to an 8-1 lead in the opening three minutes, behind an early layup from Campbell and back-to-back threes from Magras. Vermont Tech would cut the deficit to as few as four on several occasions, but would never get any closer in the first stanza. Leading by four (33-29) with 1:32 to go in the half, Freeman knocked down a jump shot and Allen added a 3-pointer to give UMass Boston a 38-29 halftime advantage.
UMass Boston came out red-hot to start the second half, as the Beacon used a 7-2 run to grab their largest lead of the game at 14 (45-31). Freeman drained all four of his free throw attempts and Allen added a three in the 7-0 run.
The Beacons held the Knights comfortably at bay until the final two minutes. With UMass Boston leading by 11, Vermont Tech went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 69-66 with 1:07 to play. Conaway and Connor combined for all eight points during the run.
After a pair of missed free throws by the Beacons, Conaway turned the ball over and then White missed a three with a chance to tie.
Dan Powers (Westwood, Mass.) and Allen combined to knock down five of six free throws over the final 40 seconds to lift UMass Boston to a four-point win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston earned their third-straight win over a USCAA opponent on Day One of the Harbor Invite. The Beacons defeated the College of St. Joseph's (Vt.) in each of the prior two seasons.
- Freeman knocked down all 10 of his free throw attempts. He had opened the season just 2-of-6 in his prior two appearances.
- The Beacons will be aiming for their ninth Harbor Invitational Championship on Saturday. The Beacons last title came in 2012, when the Beacons defeated Trinity College (Conn.) 76-60.
- UMass Boston owned a 23-3 advantage in bench points and a 19-7 edge in second-chance points.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will face the winner of Friday's second game (Trinity College (Conn.) vs U. of Maine Fort-Kent) on Saturday at 3 p.m.