Junior swingman Tony Barros poured in 30 points as the No. 2-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston men’s basketball team hung on to defeat visiting No. 6 seed Eastern Connecticut State University, 60-56, in the first round of the Little East Conference Tournament at the Clark Athletic Center Tuesday night.
The conference tournament win is the first for UMass Boston (16-10) since downing Eastern (9-17) in the 1997 tournament semifinals and vaults the Beacons into Friday’s semifinals against No. 3 seeded Rhode Island College at Keene, NH. The Warriors concluded their season with a 1-11 record in games played on their opponent’s home court, with five of those losses coming by seven points or less. The Warriors, who played their season without a senior, lost three times to UMass this year by a combined total of 15 points, twice losing by four points.
Eastern trailed by only two points and had possession of the ball following a UMass turnovers in the final seconds but its attempt at a tying basket on a two-on-one opportunity was blocked and UMass hit two insurance free throws with eight seconds left.
UMass Boston owned a 47-39 lead with 7:12 to play in the game, but the Warriors went on a 13-5 run -- capped by junior forward Leon Martin’s first three-pointer of the year -- to pull even at 52-52 with 3:59 showing in the contest. Martin had seven of his team-high 17 points in the run.
The score was tied at 54-54 with 3:10 remaining before senior forward Charles Yuan knocked down a pair of free throws and sophomore guard Amigo Paniagua converted a lay-up to give the Beacons a 58-54 lead with 1:10 left in the game. Junior guard Matt Albon sank a jumper for Eastern with 53 seconds left to make it 58-56 and then called a timeout. UMass Boston worked the clock down on the following possession and turned the ball over as the Warriors came down the court with a two-on-one, but Yuan stepped up with his only block of the game on an inside attempt by Eastern junior Dan Trudeau to get the ball back for the Beacons with 13 seconds left. Barros later made a lay-up with eight ticks left in the game to seal the win.
Eastern scored eight straight points early in the game – holding UMass without a basket and just one point for nine minutes – to take a 19-10 lead with just over six minutes left in the half. UMass Boston came back, though, closing out the half with a 14-5 run to tie the contest at the intermission at 24-24, with Barros leading the way with three three-pointers during the stretch.
The Warriors built a 35-28 lead in the first 4:29 of the second stanza, before the Beacons reeled off seven straight points to knot the game at 35-35 with 11:46 to go in the half. UMass Boston kept the burst going, scoring 10 of the game’s next 12 points to take a 45-37 lead with 9:27 remaining in the contest, fueled by eight points from Barros.
Eastern forced the conference’s top field-goal shooting team into a game mark of 38.6. The conference’s second-worst team in that department, Eastern converted 51.1 per cent of its field goals – its best marksmanship in a conference game this year and its second-best in any game. The conference’s second-best defense (Eastern) held the conference’s second-best offense 24 points under its season’s scoring average.
Martin was 7-for11 from the field and added six rebounds, four blocks and three assists. It was his third-highest point total this year – highest in 12 games. Junior guard Geoffrey Richardson contributed 11 points and four assists, Albon chipping in ten points. First-year sophomore guard Greg Lasota handed out eight assists – two shy of his season-high.
The conference’s second-leading scorer with a 20.5 average, Barros was 10-20 from the floor, including 6-9 from three-point range en route to his game-high total. He added six rebounds and four steals. In his team’s 76-72 win over Eastern Dec. 3 at Willimantic, Barros had 27 points (7-for-14 FG, 10-for-17 FT) and eight rebounds. He was 3-for-4 from three-point range in that game. Paniagua finished just short of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards in addition to six assists and three steals, while sophomore point guard A.J. Titus dished for a game-high nine assists.