Bristol Reporter

UMass Dartmouth Wins Second Straight vs. Rhode Island College

 The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team cruised to a 75-59 victory over Little East Conference (LEC) opponent Rhode Island College on Wednesday. This win makes two-in-a-row for the Corsairs.
 
The Corsairs advance to 5-11 overall and hold a 4-4 LEC record. The Anchormen drop to 5-11 and a conference record of 3-5. This game moved UMass Dartmouth passed Rhode Island College in the Little East standings.
 
Freshman Nic Boyd lit it up for UMD, scoring a game-high 21 points on 5-of-9 (55.6%) from deep. Junior John Martins Jr. shot the ball well off the bench too, going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and tallying 12 points. Senior Jackson Zancan nearly notched a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds on 3-for-6 (50.0%) from the arc. Fifth-year student Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer flirted with a triple-double with eight points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds. 

The Corsairs displayed lock-down defense, limiting the Anchormen to just 34.4% from the field and a very poor 18.8% from three. Junior Kalu Uga led the way for RIC after hitting two garbage-time threes late in the game. Freshman Anthony Rivera and junior Ousmane Kourouma tallied 14 points each. 
 
After not being able to score for the first six minutes of the contest, junior guard Jayquan Leonard got things rolling for the Corsairs with a couple of buckets coming off of nice moves. Martins Jr. made his presence felt with back-to-back threes and a layup. One of his threes he was fouled on and converted on the four-point play. Boyd contributed to the UMassD run with two quick threes of his own late in the half, and UMass Dartmouth went to the locker room with a 40-30 lead. 
 
Zancan and Boyd led the way in the second half with each of them converting a pair of deep balls. The Corsairs as a unit went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the second half, coming from Boyd, Zancan, and freshman John Marcille.
 
UMass Dartmouth played a complete game offensively and on the defensive end, helping them pull ahead to a 20-point lead with less than two minutes remaining. NCAA Division III most winningest active coach Brian Baptiste had the Corsairs burn the clock in the final two minutes, and they went on to win 75-59 in their second straight win.    

UMD showed their depth in this contest, with their bench outscoring the RIC bench 40-11. The Corsairs caused 22 turnovers with their aggressive defense, and they out-shot the Anchormen by a large margin. UMass Dartmouth shot 41.5% from the field and a blistering 46.2% from deep, while Rhode Island College shot 34.4% from the field and 18.8% from behind the arc. 

UMass Dartmouth goes back on the road next week, when they travel to Middletown, Conn. to face Wesleyan. The action tips off on Monday at 7:00 PM. 

Original source can be found here