PRIDE RALLY COMES UP SHORT

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Regis College nearly overcame a nine point second half deficit, but the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team fought off the Pride for an 80-76 victory on Wednesday night in non-league action.

The Corsairs raced out of the gates to an early 8-2 lead in the opening minutes as sophomore guard Jake Laga (Northampton, Mass.) scored five quick points. UMD would control the pace for the entire half and the majority of the game as they stretched their lead to as many as 10 with 12:13 remaining when freshman guard Jacek Louisville (Worcester, Mass.) knocked down a free throw.

The two teams would trade baskets throughout the remainder of the half and the Corsairs would take a 42-36 lead into the break.

Early in the second half, UMD would stretch their lead to as many as nine with 17:00 minutes remaining when junior forward Eleazar Clayton (Boston, Mass.) made a layup. The Pride would battle back, however, cutting the lead to just one, at 51-50 when sophomore guard Osanto Marc (Kissimmee, Fla.) knocked down a trey with 12:27 left to play.

The Corsairs responded with an 8-0 run to bring the lead back to nine when sophomore guard Emmanuel Abioye (Dorchester, Mass.) connected with 9:13 remaining. Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) buried a triple with 28 second remaining in the game to make it 79-76, but UMD got a pair of Laga free throws with nine seconds left to seal the victory.

Offensively, UMD was led by junior guard John Genkos (Worcester, Mass.), who scored a game-high 24 points on 7-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Laga added 14 and sophomore center Alex Rodrigues (Fall River, Mass.) added 12 points and seven boards for the Corsairs.

Marc led the Pride in scoring with 23 points, while junior guard Ryan Chambers added 17 points while knocking down four treys. Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) came off the bench to add 15 of his own.

UMass Dartmouth improved to 2-8 with the victory, while Regis fell to 0-11 with the defeat. Regis returns to action next Tuesday when the Pride return to NECC play with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Mitchell College.

Release courtesy of UMass Dartmouth Sports Information