WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team completed the upset on Saturday, securing a comeback victory in the second half to down top-seeded Eastern Connecticut 60-55 on the Warriors' home court to advance to Sunday's Little East Conference Championship game.
UMass Dartmouth will compete in its first LEC title contest since 2009, which is also the last year the program captured the league crown. The Corsairs will meet either No. 3 seed Keene State or No. 7 seed Rhode Island College at ECSU's Geissler Gym tomorrow. The winner of the Championship receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Corsairs capitalized on a 19-of-68 (28 percent) shooting night for the Warriors, handing ECSU its only loss at home on the season. Eastern Connecticut, now 18-9 overall, awaits the possibility of an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, which it has received the past two seasons.
Senior Jordan Rezendes (Onset, Mass.) led all scorers with 20 points, despite the outing being his third-lowest point total on the season. He also contributed eight rebounds and four assists. Junior Abi Akanni (Fitchburg, Mass.) tied his second-highest point total of the season with 16, shooting 7-of-15 from the field, while classmate Jon Robinson (Chatham, Mass.) went 5-of-8 for 12 points. Nick Portelance (Fairhaven, Mass.) paced the Corsairs on the boards with nine rebounds.
Eastern Connecticut's Hugh Lindo (Enfield, Conn.) turned in a monster afternoon on the boards, registering 21 rebounds including 10 on the offensive end. He and sophomore Tarchee Brown (Rockville, Conn.) finished with 10 points, while senior Trachone Preston (Enfield, Conn.) paced the Warriors with 13 points.
Neither team could find a consistent rhythm in the first 20 minutes, despite UMass Dartmouth shooting 40 percent from the field on the half. Eastern Connecticut jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first seven minutes, expanding the lead to as much as 11 at 9:15 following a traditional 3-point play from Brown. The Corsairs whittled that advantage back down, as back-to-back Robinson jumpers put the score at 23-21. The Warriors then used free throws to take a four-point, 28-24 lead into the break.
The first half of the second stanza spelled much of the same, as the Warriors were able to keep a narrow lead until 12:23, when Akanni put in a layup to tie the contest at 38 and force an ECSU timeout. Out of the intermission, Brown turned the ball over and Akanni registered another bucket to give UMass Dartmouth the lead.
The Corsairs then jumped out on a 13-3 run to go up 12 with less than four minutes left. The Warriors fought back, using multiple Lindo rebounds and forcing UMass Dartmouth to the foul line. The Corsairs went only 9-of-19 from the stripe in the second half, and surrendered two turnovers in the last 40 seconds, but Eastern Connecticut missed two 3-point chances in the waning seconds. UMass Dartmouth held on for the five-point victory.
UMass Dartmouth hit 55 percent (13-of-24) of its field goal opportunities in the second half, which served as the difference-maker as the Warriors could muster only 27 percent (10-of-37).
The Corsairs are in pursuit of their league-best 12th Little East Conference title, as all 11 in program history have come under the guidance of head coach Brian Baptiste. Last season, UMass Dartmouth fell in the LEC semifinals to Rhode Island College.