With the win UMass Dartmouth improves to 9-8 overall and 4-3 in the Little East. The loss drops Southern Maine to 5-11 overall and 1-6 in the LEC. In their first meeting of the year, UMass Dartmouth gutted out a 75-70 overtime win in Gorham.
Turtoro finished the game with a team-high 16 points on a sparkling 6-for-9 effort off of the bench for the Corsairs. Turtoro was equally as impressive from beyond-the-arc canning 4-of-7 from three-point range to help UMass Dartmouth to a 43.8 percent mark (7-for-16) from long range. Senior forward Paul Pawlowski (Taunton, Mass./Taunton), who assisted on Turtoro’s game-winning lay-up, finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Sophomore guard Reece Freeman (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin) chipped in with 11 points, four assists and five steals.
Southern Maine junior forward Drew Coppenrath (Barnet, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) led all scorers with 20 points on an 8-for-12 mark from the field. Coppenrath added eight rebounds and was 2-for-3 from three point range while playing all 40 minutes for the Huskies. Junior forward Nick Gooding (Concord, Mass./Mount Diablo) recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Shooting 48.3 percent (14-for-29) from the field to start the game, Southern Maine led the Corsairs 35-22 at the half and led by 14 points, 41-27, with 16:57 to play in the game before the Corsairs stormed back to earn the win.
Led by 12 second half points from Pawlowski, the Corsairs clawed their way back into the game as UMass Dartmouth shot a remarkable 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the field in the second half, including a 4-for-8 mark from three-point range. Pawlowski’s lay-up with 4:46 to play knotted the score up at 53.
After Pawlowski’s game-tying basket the game teetered back and fourth over the next three minutes with the lead exchanging hands four times. Southern Maine went ahead 62-60 with 1:13 to play as Coppenrath converted a lay-up off of an assist from Gooding, but UMass Dartmouth’s Freeman countered with a lay-up of his own for the eighth tied score of the half, 62-62, with 1:04 left.
In the Huskies next offensive possession, the Corsairs were able to come up with a defensive stop as freshman forward Matt Walker (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) stripped the ball from a USM player. Following a steal and a Corsair time-out, Turtoro was able to score the game-winner with two seconds left.
Southern Maine finished the game shooting 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the field and 76.9 percent (10-for-13) from the free throw line. UMass Dartmouth, which committed just five turnovers in the game, shot 43.4 percent (23-for-53) from the floor.
USM plays again on Tuesday (January 23) when it hosts UMass Boston at 7:30 p.m. for a Little East Conference game. UMass Dartmouth hosts nationally-ranked Rhode Island College on the same time and time for an LEC contest.