The Beacons are back in the playoffs for their fourth straight year, all four of which have featured UMass Boston’s newest 1000 point scorer, Emanuel Zayas. The senior guard from Hollywood, Florida could be playing his last game as a Beacon this week — the fourth-seeded Beacons will host Southern Maine in the first round of the Little East Tournament Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7 PM in the Clark Athletic Center.
Zayas didn’t start a game his freshman year, would at times rarely get any minutes, and in a few never even checked in. Reflecting on the ups and downs of his career at UMass Boston, he said, “I embraced all of it. [I’m] grateful to be in that opportunity, very blessed to get the thousand and just kind of make a name for myself here, coming from down south, not even knowing what’s up here.”
“I think the biggest thing was just that I worked through it all… and I just kept working my way. So when I look back at it, grateful just for the journey, to be in that opportunity, to put myself in the situation I’m in today,” said Zayas.
UMass Boston got a win on their senior night Feb. 19 against Vermont State University at Castleton. Freshman Raphel Laurent iced the game with free throws, but the Beacons last bucket in the clutch came from Zayas with a pretty scoop layup. He’s made a lot of moments in high-pressure situations, and as his coach Jason Harris put it, “Manny loves hero ball.”
“That’s a funny one — he loves saying that,” Zayas said, referring to Harris. “I would like to say that I put a lot of hours into my craft and a lot of hours into my game.”
Zayas knew his coach’s quote came after his shot over Southern Maine. The Beacons led by two with 32 seconds left, and Zayas bled the clock and bottomed a contested fadeaway with two Huskies in his face. It was indeed the dagger.
“I worked on that specific shot, I don’t even know how many times… so I mean, when the ball’s in my hand, every shot I take, I think it’s going in,” Zayas explained. “I’m confident in that shot, in practice I take that shot, just because I feel like I can make that shot.”
But like his career, the Beacons’ 2024-25 season hasn’t been all ups. Zayas talked about how injuries have played a large part in their downs, plaguing their season, “We had a stud freshman. His name is Cameron Perkins, and unfortunately he got hurt, he tore his shoulder, and he was definitely someone that I wish I could have played with longer.”
Perkins, a 6’5 forward from Danbury, Conn., averaged a hair under 26 points per game along with just below eight boards per game. The two time LEC Rookie of the Week looked dominant in his short stint of six games this year.
Zayas also named Connor Walden, Xavier McKenzie, and Hector Perez among the Beacons who also missed a chunk of time this year.
“With the potential that we did have, we could have definitely won more games that we kind of dropped, unfortunately. But I’d say that, I mean, everything happens for a reason.”
A leader on and off the floor, Zayas talked highly of freshman guard Davon Sanders. He thought back to his days as a freshman, coming up behind both Boston natives and brothers, Charlie and Charles Mitchell. “I just took what they taught me, which was, never take it easy on me … I just applied it to Davon, and Davon embraced it,” he said.
Zayas added, “He was willing to listen and learn, I think that was the biggest thing … He said he wanted to be a sponge and learn everything he can. From that moment on, I knew he was going to be fine, and Davon’s going to have a great career, I know that for sure.”
He later called Sanders his “young freshman pup,” and credited him with helping him find “the love of the game that you kind of lose throughout a long season, and a long couple of years … I love that kid man, it makes me happy.”
“The program is going to be in good hands, especially with a guy like him,” Zayas concluded.
It’s not just Sanders, who slots in off the bench, showing promise. Harris and his Beacons have found consistency in a starting lineup of McKenzie, Raphel Laurent, Mark Barrett and Tyler Victor alongside Zayas. McKenzie, a sophomore, and Laurent, a freshman, have shown strong strides as the season has played out.
McKenzie, after missing all of last year, averages almost 15 a game with a killer mid-range approach. McKenzie gets downhill with force almost as much as anyone in the LEC for as many times as he touches the ball.
Laurent is a four time Rookie of the Week winner in the LEC, and his point average has risen in each and every game he’s played this year — up to 12.9 now. He’s a ferocious defender who stilts guards through bigs at the perimeter and on — overall, a very strong, versatile player.
Victor and Barrett, both long rim protectors, seem like a dynamic duo, but Barrett can fill the stat sheet in every category on his own with. Victor can be a relentless rebounder on the offensive and defensive glass, and together, they’ve given UMass Boston reliability under the rim.
Emanuel Zayas averaged a career best 18 points per game last season. At the end of the regular season this year, he sits at 16.2. From 410 shots to 331, it’s been no secret that Zayas’ usage percentage has taken a dip. But with the success of his team, and teammates, that doesn’t bother him.
“Why not let the other guys do their thing?” said Zayas. “They’re doing a hell of a job, and that’s the reason we’ve got back into it and are going to the playoffs and the right direction. You’ve got to trust your teammates.”
No winning streak longer than three, and no losing stretch larger than four, the Beacons have been clinging to a tethering season. But they’re here, nonetheless, and Zayas is looking forward to their LEC games.
“[I’m] definitely excited. We’ll see who we get to play. We’re all excited though. That’s just the biggest word. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people in the postseason here,” Zayas said.
UMass Boston will square off soon with their long-time opponent at the Clark Athletic Center, who narrowly beat out UMass Dartmouth for fifth seed. We’ll see if they’re ready come Tuesday.
