Last week was a very disappointing week for UMass men’s basketball.
The team suffered a crippling blow to their chances of hosting a first round Little East Conference tournament game by losing two home games they could have won, the first to Southern Maine 73-71 and then most recently to Rhode Island College 74-62. The Beacons are currently on a three game losing streak and their record drops to 9-10 overall and 3-5 in the LEC.
The only bright spot of the week was the naming of Billy Allen for Little East Conference for the week of February 2. The South Boston native had a two game total of 49 points, 24 rebounds, 6 blocks and 4 assists.
Southern Maine’s win over the Beacons was their first conference victory of the season and only their second overall. Mike Francoeur and Jason Levecque scored 25 points apiece while teammate Ryan Soucie contributed with 17 points. Allen led all scorers with 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
The loss to the Huskies was a particularly hard one to swallow. The Beacons had double digit leads several times, only to watch USM come back.
In the second half, the Beacons found it particularly difficult to keep up with the smaller Huskie lineup. Mike Francouer clinched the game with a jumper with 3.1 seconds left. A long shot from Eric Summerville as time expired came up short.
The Rhode Island College game was also perplexing. Although the Anchormen of RIC had beaten the Beacons previously 81-77, home court advantage would seem to give UMB the edge in a close contest. However, the game played out differently.
The teams played evenly through the first ten minutes. A pair of free throws by Roger Perry (14 points) gave the Beacons their only lead of the game at 12-11. RIC then proceeded to go on a 21-4 run, protecting the boards on the defensive end very well and igniting the fast break. The Anchormen held an 11-point lead at halftime at 39-28.
The Beacons, however, did not give up without a fight. UMB trimmed the lead all the way down to one 46-45 just a little over six minutes into the half on the scoring of Allen and Summerville.
But that was as close as the Beacons would get as the Anchormen countered with a 9-0 run to re-establish a double digit lead and then cruise on to victory from there. Kamran Alemdar led RIC with 17 points and K.C. Grandfield had a double- double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Beacons have two road games, the first on Thursday, February 6 against Worcester Polytechnic Institute at 7pm and then Eastern Connecticut State on Saturday, February 8 at 3pm. UMB beat ECS earlier in the year 60-43.