BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore guard Emanuel Zayas continued his red-hot stretch for UMass Boston Men's Basketball scoring 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including five three-pointers to lead the Beacons to their fifth consecutive win, 79-62, at home over Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon to close out their schedule ahead of winter break.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 79, Rhode Island College 62

UMass Boston (9-3, 2-1 LEC)

Rhode Island College (4-8, 2-2 LEC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

UMass Boston would trail for just six seconds in the first half after a layup from junior center Ousmane Kouroma, who corralled 10 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes for Rhode Island College, made it 9-7 with 16:32 left. With the game knotted up at 11, the Beacons would open up a 16-point advantage after going on a 16-0 run that spanned the course of six minutes.

Five different players on the floor for UMass Boston would record points during the run with senior forward Malik Lorquet leading the way with all six of his first-half points in that span to help the Beacons go ahead, 27-11.
The Anchormen would trim their deficit down to as few as 13 points with 5:17 remaining in the first half while UMass Boston would lead by as many as 21 points with 2:50 left. Heading into the half, six of the seven Beacon players who scored had five-plus points as UMass Boston carried a 39-26 edge over Rhode Island College.

Kicking off the second half, the Beacons would go on a 7-1 run which included five straight points from Zayas to take control of the game, going ahead by 19 points, 46-27, with 17:37 remaining in regulation. Rhode Island College would pull back within 14 points over the next four minutes, but a pair of threes from Zayas and two free throws from freshman guard Xavier McKenzie helped UMass Boston go back in front by 22 points.

The Beacons would lead by as many as 26 points in the second half as they dominated the Anchormen wire-to-wire for their second conference win of the season, 79-62, to close out the first half of the season.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Emanuel Zayas has now shot over 50% in seven consecutive games after shooting 57.1% from the field today, Zayas is also over 50% shooting from three in six of his last seven games
• After Ousmane Kouroma grabbed 10 first-half rebounds, the UMass Boston defense held the center to just one rebound in the second half
• Sophomore forward Ike Eluwa recorded his career high in points, scoring 15 points on the afternoon on 6-of-10 shooting with five steals
• UMass Boston forced 22 turnovers against the Anchormen, leading to 26 points while only committing nine turnovers of their own to the tune of seven points for Rhode Island College

WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will head into their winter break which will last 17 days, before returning to the court on the road for a Little East Conference matchup with Castleton University on the road on January 4^th, 2023, at 7:00 PM. Since the Spartans joined the LEC during the 2018-19 season, the Beacons are a perfect 6-0 against them.