DARTMOUTH, Mass.—Despite a career-high 28 points from senior Dasan Cinelli (Boston, Mass.), UMass Boston men's basketball fell 86-75 to host UMass Dartmouth on Thursday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.

THE BASICS

UMass Dartmouth 86, UMass Boston 75

(UMass Boston 8-5, Little East 3-2)
(UMass Dartmouth 8-6, Little East 3-2)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Cinelli tacked on nine rebounds, four assists, one assist and one steal in 38 minutes of action. He finished the game shooting 11-16 from the field, 3-4 from distance and 3-5 from the charity stripe.

Junior Charles Mitchell (Boston, Mass.) tacked on 17 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. Michael Boyd (Malden, Mass.) chipped in 10 points and three assists and Malik Lorquet (Sharon, Mass.) added five points, five rebounds and five blocks.

Marcus Azor led four Corsairs in double-figures. Azor finished with 19 points on 7-13 shooting. Harry Alexander tacked on a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds and Sean Leahy (11 points) and Adam Seablom (10 points) also finished in double-figures.

The hosts grabbed an eight-point advantage (21-13) midway through the first half on sophomore Matt Valles' lay-in, but the Beacons responded with eight points in 54 seconds to even matters on Cinelli's three-pointer. 

UMass Dartmouth outscored UMass Boston by a 17-9 margin over the final nine-plus minutes of the half to take a 38-29 edge at the break fueled by eight points each from Azor and Valles.

An Azor three-pointer 5:40 after intermission capped a 16-9 run to increase the hosts' lead to 16 (54-38).  The visitors closed their deficit to seven twice in the closing minutes of action, as Cinelli's jumper with 48 seconds left made it 80-73.

The Corsairs used six combined free throws from Azor and senior Harry Alexander in the final 37 seconds of play to ice their triumph.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston finished the contest shooting 41.4 percent (29-70) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-22) from distance and 72.7 percent (8-11) from the free throw line.
• Cinelli has recorded 24 or more points in three of his past five games. His career-high in his first 86 collegiate contests was 18 as a junior. He's averaging 20.4 points per game over his past five games. 
• Senor Mark Munroe (Quincy, Mass.) chipped in six points and six rebounds off the bench.
• With the loss, the Beacons fell to 61-18 all-time against the Corsairs. UMass Boston had won four of the previous five meetings.

WHO'S NEXT  

UMass Boston heads to Cambridge, Mass. for a non-league outing with Lesley University on Saturday afternoon that tips-off at 1:30 pm.

Parts of this release courtesy of UMass Dartmouth Sports Information Department