Box Score
BOSTON, Mass.—UMass Boston men's basketball raced out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 96-65 rout of Wheelock College in the Beacons' 2016-17 home opener.
THE BASICS
UMass Boston 96, Wheelock College 65
(UMass Boston 2-0)
(Wheelock College 2-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Seven different Beacons finished with nine or more points, as the Beacons racked up their most points in a single-game under second-year head coach Jason Harris.
The Beacons used 10-0 runs to start both halves, to set the tone against an undermanned Wildcats side, and never looked back in their fourth home-opening win in five years.
Senior Sam Freeman (Boston, Mass.) led the Beacons with a team-high 19 points and added 11 rebounds, six of them on the offensive end. Fellow senior Dan Powers (Westwood, Mass.) added a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, while three of the team's smallest players dictated the pace.
Freshman points guards Alex Sanchez (Salem, Mass.) and Ty Lee (Boston, Mass.) and senior guard Iser Barnes (Boston, Mass.) combined for 42 points, 12 assists, 12 rebounds and eight steals. Lee, who was making his collegiate debut, totaled 10 points, a team-high six assists and two steals.
Careem Kirskey (Dorchester, Mass.) and Neil Cesar (Randolph, Mass.) chipped in with nine points apiece for the Beacons, who are averaging 90.5 points through their first two games.
Wheelock senior forward Anthony Williams led all players with 22 points and tacked on seven rebounds and four blocks for the visitors. Fellow senior Devin Brown poured in 20 points, but no one else on the team recorded more than five.
From the opening tip it was all Beacons, as Wheelock struggled without their All-Conference senior point guard-Nicholas Fenton.
The Beacons raced out to a 10-0 lead in the opening 3:41, with four of their five started finding the scoresheet. Wheelock cut the deficit to 14-13 with under 12 minutes to play, but UMass Boston used an 11-2 run to push the lead out to 25-15.
From there it was all UMass Boston, as they used big leads on the glass, on the fast break and on second-chance points to easily come away with the win.
After heading into the break leading 47-30, UMass Boston opened the second half on another 10-0 run. Freeman scored the first five points and then Barnes hit a layup and Kirksey buried a 3-pointer less than four minutes into the half.
The Beacons stretched their lead out to as many as 34 late in the game, with freshman Dasan Cinelli (Boston, Mass.) contributing seven points off the bench.
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston pulled down a season-high 20 offensive rebounds, to earn a 50-28 overall lead in rebounding. The Beacons turned that advantage into a 17-1 edge in second-chance points.
- Fast-break points (18-4) were also solidly in the Beacons favor, as UMass Boston forced 18 turnovers, against just 14 of their own errors.
- Six Beacons made their collegiate debuts in the contest. Muhaned Ghabour (Arlington, Mass.), Mikel Calloway (Boston, Mass.), William Butts (Stoneham, Mass.) and Sam Nova (Hyde Park, Mass.) joined Cinelli and Lee in making their debuts.
- UMass Boston improved to 1-1 all-time against Wheelock, after falling 73-59 against the Wildcats in 2011.
- The Beacons shot 48.6 percent (36-of-74) from the field and hit 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) of their free throw attempts.
- UMass Boston's previous high-water mark for points in a game under Jason Harris came last November, when they scored 88 in an 88-83 win over Fitchburg State University.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will host Vermont Tech in the first round of the 32nd Annual Harbor Invitational on Friday at 4 p.m. Daniel Webster College and Merchant Marine Academy will play in game two on Friday (6 p.m.).
