It has been a less-than-ideal start to the year for UMass Boston Men’s Basketball. According to Beacons Athletics, the Beacons went into the Black Collegiate Coaches Classic in search of their second win of the season, but were unsuccessful in doing so. [1] They dropped both games in the tournament, as well as their first game after.
The first game saw them play against the then-undefeated Tufts University. Whilst all their previous games were close affairs, this was a harsh reality check for the Beacons. According to Beacons Athletics, the Jumbos did not let up on the Beacons. It was relatively close at the start, but it did not take long for things to get out of hand. [2]
The first half ended with the Jumbos leading 36–22, not a great deficit for the Beacons, but nothing that hasn’t been overcome before. Unfortunately for the Beacons, the Jumbos had no plans of letting the Beacons spark a comeback. The Beacons were outscored by an insane mark of 47–19 in the second half, ending in an 83–41 loss for them, their worst loss of the year. [2]
The Beacons were simply outclassed entirely, but they had to move past the devastation for their next matchup against Bowdoin College and their Polar Bears. The Beacons looked to make up for the loss against the Jumbos, and according to Beacons Athletics, at first, things looked as if that would happen. [3]
Emanuel Zayas, Erik Donaldson and Hector Perez helped the Beacons go into halftime with a seven point lead, 34–27. They continued to build their lead into the second half, leading by 12 at one point. But as the half progressed, the Polar Bears ate into that lead and UMass Boston found themselves tied late into the half, 58 all. [3]
The Polar Bears’ Andrew Szwez and Kevin Reeves delivered late buckets that completed the comeback. The Beacons’ collapse resulted in a 62–60 Polar Bear victory. [3] Two days, two very different kinds of defeats, but they both sting equally as much. The Black Collegiate Coaches Classic was a rough time for the Beacons, but their hope was to get back on track as soon as possible.
Rivier University and the Raiders were next on the schedule for the group. [1] According to Beacons Athletics, the Beacons found themselves in a deep hole early on, as they were down 14 in the first half. They rallied back to take a one-point lead by the end of the half, 33–32. The Beacons put the clamps on the Raiders early on, holding them to 27 percent shooting for the half, but the second half was a different story. [4]
It seemed like anything shot was going in during the second half, and that went for both sides. However, the Raiders’ shots came from farther out, three-ball after three-ball raining from their side. According to Beacons Athletics, they made 53 percent of their three-pointers in the second half and 41 percent for the game. [5] The Raiders took the victory 90–78 in what was an exciting display of offense. [4]
These past few games have been rough for the Beacons. The ability to close out games is something that clearly needs to be worked on, but the talent they possess is profound. Players like Zayas, Bobby Joy and the freshman Perez have shown off their capabilities despite the lousy record. There is no reason to give up on the Beacons just yet.
Their schedule for December consists of mostly LEC games, which will be important come tournament time. [1] The Beacons will need to lock in for these games and hopefully close out this semester’s slate of matches on a high note. These Beacons can hoop, and now that conference games are here, it’s a great opportunity to show these other schools what they are capable of and break their slump.
[1] https://beaconsathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
[5] https://beaconsathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=11592
