North Dartmouth, Mass.-The sixth-seeded Rhode Island College men's basketball team saw their season come to an end with an 86-67 loss to No. 3-seeded UMass Dartmouth in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Little East Conference Tournament at the Tripp Center on Tuesday evening.

Sophomore forward Benjamin Vezele (Providence, RI) led the way for RIC (11-14) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Justin Campbell (New Haven, CT) added 15 points and three rebounds, while freshman guard Chris Farrington (Fall River, MA) and junior guard Malcolm Smith (Old Orchard Beach, ME) each notched 14 points in the setback for the Anchormen.

UMass Dartmouth (17-9) was led by sophomore center Nick Portelance (Fairhaven, MA) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Arinze Obiora (Hyde Park, MA) recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 boards, while junior guard Tucker Bouchard (Kingston, MA) notched 13 points and three rebounds in the win for the Corsairs.

UMD held control of the contest early and took their first double digit advantage on a three-pointer from Bouchard to make the score 22-12 with 11:40 left in the first half. The Corsairs led by as many as 27 points late in the half before taking a 45-24 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

 The Anchormen cut into the lead in the opening minutes of the second half and trimmed their deficit down to just 12 points, 48-36, on a jumper from Vezele with 16:21 left in regulation. That would be as close as RIC would get as the hosts pulled away to advance to the tournament semifinals.

 RIC shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) from the field, 38.5 percent (5-for-13) from behind the three-point stripe and 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the free throw line. UMass Dartmouth shot 46.2 percent (36-of-78) from the field, 29.2 percent (7-of-24) from three-point land and 77.8 percent (7-for-9) from the free throw line. UMD held a 47-35 advantage in rebounding in the win.