BOSTON, Mass. – Led by Ryan Coulter's team-high 16 points, and a 20-3 run to open up the second half, the Vikings of Salem State University defeated men's basketball in their home opener by the final of 92-70 Tuesday evening in the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 70, Salem State University 92

UMass Boston (1-1, 0-0 Little East Conference)
Salem State University (1-1, 0-0 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Coulter led the contest with an impressive 4-for-7 showing from behind the arc, and finished 6-for-11 on the night to lead his team to their first win of 2015-16.  Zach Hurynowicz dropped in 15 points to finish second on the team, as he went 5-for-9, 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

Leading the way for UMass Boston in their first home game in the Jason Harris era, was Michael Campbell (Boston, Mass.).  The senior guard finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting, and also had five boards.  Iser Barnes (Boston, Mass.) finished with 12 points, followed by Sam Freeman (Boston, Mass.) who had 10.  Off the bench, Dan Powers (Westwood, Mass.) led the Beacons on the glass as he finished with seven boards. 

Proving to be the biggest factor in the Vikings win was their bench, as it accounted for 42 of the team's 92 points. 

The first half was a back-and-forth contest, as UMass kept the Vikings in check in the early ongoing.  The Beacons would cut the Vikings lead to as much as four points, but were never able to make that one big push to take control of the scoreboard. 

With a quick 4-0 run with less than 4:31 to play in the opening half, the Beacons stood just five points behind the Vikings.  Unfortunately, Salem State would go into the halftime break with all the momentum as they went on a 13-0 run to close out the first 20 minutes.

The second half was all Salem State from start to finish as they maintained a 20+ point lead for almost the entire half.

As a team the Beacons shot 41.3% on the night, while the Vikings finished Tuesday's contest shooting 47.3%.  In the first half, the shot an impressive 54.1% overall and 53.8% from behind the arc.  Both teams shot over 40% from the field and from distance in the second half.

On the glass, Salem State held a 45-39 advantage.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Tuesday's contest marked the first home contest for first year head coach Jason Harris
• It was also the first time that UMass Boston and Salem State faced each other since the 2008-09 season
• All-time the Vikings lead the series 19-7

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons return to action next Tuesday when they host Fitchburg State University at 7:30 p.m.