Men's Basketball Falls to UMass Boston, 72-71

BOSTON, Mass. – Dontreal Thomas' (New Orleans, La.) tip-in bucket with under five seconds remaining lifted the UMass Boston men's basketball team to a dramatic 72-71 non-conference win over visiting Bridgewater State University on Thursday evening at the Clark Athletic Center Gym.

UMass improves to 8-5, while Bridgewater falls to 6-7.

Thomas capped off a 10-0 run to end the game as the Beacons kept the Bears scoreless over the final three minutes to erase a 71-62 deficit.

UMB erased the Bears' nine-point led with a dunk from Rahshjeem Benson (Boston, Mass.), and back-to-back three-pointers from Vinny DeLucia (Miami, Fla.) and Yusuke Fukata (Osaka, Japan). Following the three from Fukata, which put the score at 71-70 in favor of the Bears, Bridgewater State was whistled for an offensive foul giving the Beacons the ball back with 45 seconds left on the clock.  UMB would get extremely lucky on the ensuing possession as a nearly costly turnover almost ended in catastrophe.

UMass, however, was able to get the ball back following a missed free throw by the Bears setting up Thomas' heroics.

After the go ahead basket by Thomas, Bridgewater attempted a long pass down the court, but the throw was too far, securing the Beacons' non-conference victory.

Benson finished with a team-best 14 points and five blocks. On the glass he finished second with eight boards, while sophomore Brian Clarke (Miramar, Fla.) led the game with 11 rebounds.  Clarke also dropped in nine points.  DeLucia closed out the night with 12 points and six assists. 

For the Bears four of their starting five finished in double-figures, with Anthony Fortes (Providence, R.I.) leading his squad with 15 points.  Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) recorded a team-best nine rebounds and also finished with 10 points.  Shawn Yard (Brockton, Mass.) dropped in 13 and Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) finished with 12.

Over the final 20 minutes, UMB shot an impressive 50.0% (16-for-22).  They would end the night shooting 43.9% (29-for-66) from the field and were 5-for-18 from behind the arc.  Bridgewater shot 46.6% (27-for-58) for the game.

UMB also won the rebounding battle as they finished with nine more boards than the Bears (41-32).