UMass Dartmouth Holds Off Salem State 91-87

SALEM, Mass. - Marcus Azor (Brockton, Mass.) scored 24 points (FG 11-13), grabbed seven rebounds, and had four assists as the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs held off the Salem State Vikings 91-87 on Tuesday night at Twohig Gymnasium. The Corsairs improve to 2-0 on the season while the Vikings fall to 1-2 on the year.

In the first half, Salem State's Chris Macdonald (Wakefield, Mass.) got off to a hot start from deep shooting 3-4 from behind the arc.

Tied at 27, Hakeem Animashaun (Dedham, Mass.) scored seven straight points (six in the paint) to push Salem State to a 10-0 run and 37-27 lead.

Later in the half, the Vikings went cold and the Corsairs took advantage, marching to a 14-4 run to take the lead 41-39 after a fastbreak dunk from Jake Ashworth (Fairhaven, Mass.). Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer (Worcester, Mass.) played a huge role, pushing the tempo for UMass Dartmouth to open up easy transition opportunities.

At the end of the first half, UMass Dartmouth led 45-43. Azor and Ashworth each scored ten points for the Corsairs. For the Vikings, Animashaun led the Vikings with 11 points and seven rebounds.

For the half, the Corsairs scored on 46.2 % (FG 18-39) shooting while Salem State shot 43.5% (FG 20-46) from the floor.

In the second half, the score was back and forth until the Corsairs built an eight-point lead of 64-56 as Sanders-Dyer hit twice from the perimeter.

Alex De La Rosa (Boston, Mass.) drove to the lane on the fastbreak and made an acrobatic layup to tie it at 66. A technical foul was called on Matt Valles and Sean Bryan (Lowell, Mass.) made 1 of 2 free throws.

The game was tied at 74-all with 4:58 remaining in the second half. Bryan drove to the hoop and missed the layup. However, Animashaun got the rebound and was fouled on the putback layup and converted the and-one.

On the Corsairs' next possession, Ashworth popped a three level the score at 77 all.

A few minutes later, Bryan hit a tough corner three to cut the deficit to three as the Corsairs led 88-85 with 20.9 seconds remaining.

Sanders-Dyer was intentionally fouled and missed both free throws. De La Rosa converted a layup on the other end to bring the Vikings within one. Trailing, 88-87 with 15 seconds to go.De La Rosa picked a technical and UMass Dartmouth converted three times from the line to seal the win.

The Corsairs had five players scoring in double-figures including Sanders-Dyer with 16 (FG 6-11) while Harry Alexander (Washington, D.C.) scored 10 and corralled a game-high 19 rebounds.

Animashaun finished with 25 points (FG 10-18) and 14 rebounds. Bryan added 26 points (FG 10-25), 13 rebounds, and four steals.