The UMass Boston men’s basketball team ended the season on a sour note with a 78-74 loss to the Colonials of Western Connecticut State, the top Little East Conference. The win ensured a number one seed for the Colonials in the Little East Conference tournament. The loss was the Beacons’ eighth in their last ten games.

The season could be labeled as one of lost opportunity. In the case of the Western Connecticut State game, sophomore guard Roderic J. Joseph poured in a season high 24 points and teammate Billy Allen chipped in with 11 points as the Beacons took a 13-point halftime lead. But the Colonials fought back, getting contributions from multiple players (five Colonials reached 10 points or more) The squandered double digit halftime lead is something that has occurred multiple times this season.

Four days earlier, the Beacons suffered an 80-78 OT loss to Southern Maine. UMB has the unenviable distinction of losing two games to a team that finished with a 4-20 overall record.

UMB finishes the season with an overall record of 11-14, and a Little East Conference record of 5-9. It trudges into the LEC tournament at the fifth seed and it tipped off against sister campus rival UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday, February 25.

If the Beacons managed to prevail against UMD (a team that they beat twice this year), the team will then travel to the campus of the highest remaining seed after the first round of games are completed. The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday, February 28 beginning at 6pm and the championship game is to be played the following day at 3pm.