News Release

SALEM, VA — The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men’s basketball team raced to a 14-point halftime lead and went on to defeat host Roanoke, 87-78, in a first round game at the Salem Bank & Trust Tournament at the C. Homer Bast Center Wednesday evening.

UMass Dartmouth made 53.8 per cent of their shots in the first half to take a 39-25 lead at the intermission. Junior guard Devon Maiorano led the way, making three of five shots from three-point range for 11 points. Junior forward Paul Pawlowski also made three of his five shots from the field, and had 10 points in the first half. The Corsairs used a 21-8 run midway through the first half to open up a 31-18 advantage with 5:35 left prior to halftime. Maiorano hit a pair of treys during that run, Pawlowski added another and Julian Tynes also connected from beyond the arc.

The second half was a different story. The Maroons outscored the Corsairs, 11-5 at the outset of the second half to reduce UMD's lead to eight points, 44-36.

UMass Dartmouth fought back, scoring the game's next nine points to make it 53-36 with 14:43 remaining.
RC once again cut the lead to seven points, 76-69, with 4:36 remaining. But Maiorano drilled a three-pointer from the left wing, junior forward Stephane Abelard and freshman guard Reece Freeman contributed lay-ups, and junior center Dan Holbrook hit a pair of free throws as the Corsairs built their lead back up to 85-74 with 40 seconds to play.

”I was very happy with the way we played,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Brian Baptiste. “We felt that we had to box out on the boards and shoot the ball well to be successful tonight, and we did both of those things. In the second half, they came back hard and put on the pressure, and tried to trap us. We did a good job of attacking their pressure and not just settling for getting the ball over the half court line. I know that (Roanoke's) Jared Butler and Ben Shrader are outstanding three-point shooters, and we did a good job getting them to take tough threes."

Pawlowski led a balanced UMass Dartmouth scoring effort with 20 points, Maiorano added 19, Abelard had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Holbrook contributed 16 points and 15 boards before he fouled out with 58 seconds remaining. Freeman added five assists, and the Corsairs won the battle of the boards, 46-28.

Tee Jackson of the Maroons led all scorers with 22 points. Butler added 14, Shrader added 11 and A.J. Dowell contributed 10.

With the victory, the Corsairs improved to 6-4 and advanced to the championship game of the tournament. They will play Lebanon Valley, which defeated Ferrum, 75-62, in the opener. Roanoke dropped to 7-3 and will meet Ferrum for third place Wednesday.


UMASS DARTMOUTH BASKETBALL

Newspaper Box Score
UMass-Dartmouth vs Roanoke
01-03-06 5:00 at Salem, VA
At Salem, VA
UMASS-DARTMOUTH 87, ROANOKE 78
UMASS-DARTMOUTH (6-4)
Paul Pawlowski 7-11 4-6 20; Devon Maiorano 5-9 4-4 19; Stephane Abelard 8-13
0-2 18; Dan Holbrook 4-11 8-10 16; Charlie Large 2-2 1-1 5; Julian Tynes 2-3
0-0 5; Reece Freeman 2-7 0-0 4; Darryl Goodridge 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-57
17-23 87.
ROANOKE (7-3)
JACKSON, Tee 8-16 0-0 22; BUTLER, Jared 3-13 8-10 14; SHRADER, Ben 5-13 0-0
11; DOWELL, AJ 3-4 4-4 10; LAPORTE, Josh 4-8 0-1 8; CARTER, Keith 2-5 1-2 5;
PEERY, Curtis 1-3 2-4 4; DIGGS, Michael 1-3 0-0 2; EDSALL, Dan 1-2 0-0 2;
LAWLER, Ben 0-1 0-0 0; SIGMON, Ty 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 15-21 78.
UMass-Dartmouth...............   39   48  -   87
Roanoke.......................   25   53  -   78
3-point goals-UMass-Dartmouth 10-18 (Devon Maiorano 5-9; Paul Pawlowski 2-3;
Stephane Abelard 2-3; Julian Tynes 1-2; Reece Freeman 0-1), Roanoke 7-22
(JACKSON, Tee 6-10; SHRADER, Ben 1-3; DOWELL, AJ 0-1; LAPORTE, Josh 0-1;
EDSALL, Dan 0-1; BUTLER, Jared 0-6). Fouled out--UMass-Dartmouth-Dan
Holbrook, Roanoke-None. Rebounds-UMass-Dartmouth 46 (Dan Holbrook 15),
Roanoke 28 (JACKSON, Tee 4; DOWELL, AJ 4; LAPORTE, Josh 4).
Assists-UMass-Dartmouth 12 (Reece Freeman 5), Roanoke 10 (LAPORTE, Josh 3).
Total fouls-UMass-Dartmouth 21, Roanoke 16. A-311