GORHAM, Maine—Southern Maine senior Jaire Roberts hit two free throws with 0.3 seconds left, to help the host Huskies stun UMass Boston men's basketball 80-78 on Wednesday night at Hill Gymnasium.

THE BASICS

University of Southern Maine 80, UMass Boston 78

(UMass Boston 12-7, Little East 6-4)
(Southern Maine 8-10, Little East 3-7)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Roberts' free throws capped off a wild second half, that saw Southern Maine overcome a 17-point second-half deficit behind Roberts' strong play.

The senior recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds in the final 20 minutes alone. He finished the contest with a game-high 21 points, 19 rebounds (11 offensive) and also tacked on six assists.

Keenan Hendricks and Derek Haney each chipped in 12 points apiece, while Jacobe Thomas (11 points) and Kylani Lafleur (10 points) also finished in double-figures.

UMass Boston senior Dasan Cinelli (Boston, Mass.) paced the Beacons with a team-high 19 points and added eight rebounds. Charles Mitchell (Boston, Mass.) tacked on 18 points on 7-12 shooting and Michael Boyd (Malden, Mass.) recorded 14 points and a game-high eight assists.

Off the bench, senior Mark Munroe (Quincy, Mass.) finished with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Freshman Tommy Burris (Dalton, Mass.) registered eight points and six rebounds.

UMass Boston came out firing in the first half. The Beacons shot 51.4 percent (19-37) from the field and recorded seven assists to just three turnovers.

After going back-and-forth through the first five minutes, UMass Boston used a 9-0 run in less than three minutes to grab a 22-13 advantage. Cinelli, Munroe and Boyd each hit a shot to begin the run and then Charles Mitchell hit a jumper and knocked down a 3-pointer.

Southern Maine cut the deficit to six on one occasion, but UMass Boston went into the break leading by a game-high 13 points on a Boyd layup with under five seconds left in the half.

The Beacons would keep the momentum going to begin the second half. Boyd hit back-to-back shots to give the Beacons their largest lead of the game at 52-35 (18:09 remaining).

Southern Maine responded with a 13-4 deficit to get back within eight (56-48) with 13:05 remaining. The game would be tight the rest of the way, with the hosts continuing to chip away at the deficit.

The Huskies took their first lead, since it was 13-11, with 6:25 remaining, when Roberts knocked down a 3-pointer (65-63).

From that point on, the two teams would combine for four lead changes and four ties.

With the Beacons trailing 73-70, Charles Mitchell knocked down a 3-pointer and was fouled, to give the Beacons their final lead (74-73) with 1:29 left.

The Beacons fell behind by three with 31 seconds left, only for Cinelli to hit four-straight free throws to tie the game with four seconds remaining.

After the second made free throw, the Huskies inbounded the ball to Roberts, who dribbled the length of the court and drew a foul call just as the buzzer sounded. After a long wait, he knocked down both free throws to give the Huskies the win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston finished the game shooting 44.8 percent (30-67) from the field, 30.0 percent (6-20) from distance and 85.7 percent (12-14) from the free throw line.
• Charles Mitchell is now sitting on 965 career points. Boyd is just behind him, with 935 career points.
• With the loss, UMass Boston splits the season-series with the Huskies. The loss snaps a six-game winning streak for UMass Boston against Southern Maine.
• Munroe set a new career-high as a Beacon with his 17 points on 6-9 shooting. He has recorded double-digit points in three of his past four games and four times in two years as a Beacon.
• Boyd went over 100 assists on the season (107) and 250 for his career (251). He needs eight assists to move into the top-10 in program history for a single-season and five to move into the top-10 for a career.

WHO'S NEXT  

UMass Boston will return home to host Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Beacons defeated the Warriors 62-58 in Connecticut on January 4.