DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The importance of All-Little East Conference men's basketball point guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury) to the success of the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team cannot be overstated, and was on full display in Wednesday's night's 78-71 Little East Conference loss to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at the Tripp Athletic Center.

Williams, who has averaged  over 15 points with over 100 three-pointers and a free throw percentage of 80 percent in his 55-game career, sat out with foul trouble for nine minutes in the first half Wednesday. Behind eight points from Williams, Eastern trailed by only one when he departed. When the 6-foot-4 inch Williams returned with three minutes left in the half, the Warriors were facing a 13-point, 36-23 deficit.

And never fully recovered.

When Eastern and UMass Dartmouth meet in the regular season, at stake has often been first place in the LEC standings. When they have squared off in the LEC tournament, it's often been for a spot in the LEC final, with the program's having combined to reach the LEC championship game 26 times and having combined for 17 titles.

Wednesday, ironically, the teams were playing mostly for pride.

Trailing by 12 at the break, Eastern (2-7, 0-2 LEC) fell behind by 19 points five minutes into the second half and went on to its fifth straight loss – fourth in a row at the Tripp Athletic Center. UMass (2-5, 1-0 LEC), which lost four starters – three of them first-team All-LEC selections -- from last year's 20-game winner and NCAA Sweet 16 team, won for the first time since downing Connecticut College, 57-52, in its season and home-opener Nov. 11.

After Eastern had cut six points off that early 19-point second-half deficit, Williams was slapped with his third and fourth personal fouls within a span of less than a minute and left the game again in favor of  6-foot-5 inch sophomore guard Benjamin Toussaint (Bellmore, NY) with 12 minutes left and Eastern trailing by 13.

Inside buckets by senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) and senior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) and two UMass turnovers gave the Warriors an opportunity to move to within single digits, 62-52, but a miss and turnover helped set up an 8-2 Corsair burst that re-stored the hosts' momentum and a 16-point, 70-54 lead with six minutes left. Williams re-entered into the lineup at that point but it proved to be academic as UMass had not problem trading baskets the rest of the way.

The teams combined for 16 three-point field goals, six-foot fifth-year senior guard Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer converting four of his team's total of 11 en route to a game-high 24 points to lead four UMass players in double figures. Sanders-Dyer also led both teams with 11 rebounds and his team with five assists.

In 23 minutes, Williams led Eastern with 20 points (6-of-12 FG/5-for-6 FT/3-of-6 three-pointers) and matched Tibby with five rebounds. Tibby had a season-high 16 points and Woods added 11 points, with senior guard Max Lee (Norwich) handing out seven assists.

Eastern hosts Plymouth State University in a conference game Saturday at 3 p.m.