BOSTON, Mass.- Playing from behind for most of the second half on Wednesday night, UMass Boston Men's Basketball could not crack a stingy Castleton University defense until a game-sealing layup and block from senior forward Malik Lorquet secured the narrow 59-58 victory. With the victory, UMass Boston maintains a half game lead over Southern Maine for third place in the Little East Conference standings. 
 
THE BASICS
 
UMass Boston 59, Castleton University 58
 
UMass Boston (15-7, 8-5 LEC)

Castleton University (3-18, 0-13 LEC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
In the first 2:19 of play, the Beacons jumped out to a 9-0 lead courtesy of a three-pointer each for senior guards Tommy Burris and Mariano Olivier-Rodriguez, and junior guard Bobby Joy. 
 
Joy finished the game in a tie for the Beacons' leading scorer, dropping 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
While the Spartans trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, they stayed in the game with strong defense and three-point shooting. Ending the half on a 15-3 run, the visitors went into the locker room trailing by just two points.
 
In the second half, Castleton had an answer for each UMass Boston score. They lead for nearly 16:30 of the period but never by more than six points. 
 
With under four minutes to play, Joy nailed a three-pointer to cut the deficit to three and swing momentum back in favor of the Beacons. Just seconds later, however, Castleton junior forward Justin Schwarzbeck, who went 4-for-8 from deep himself, matched with a three of his own to put the lead back to six.
 
Inside of a minute to play, with the Beacons trailing by two, Joy once again found a clutch three to give the Beacons the lead for the first time since the 16:41 mark in the second half. Once again, the Spartans had an answer in the form of a go-ahead layup with just over 30 seconds to play.
 
On the following possession, Lorquet, who had an unusually quiet scoring night, grabbed an offensive rebound and completed a putback layup to give the Beacons a 59-58 lead.
 
Coming out of a timeout with 11 seconds left to play, Castleton's graduate guard Tray Wright drove to the hoop with a chance to take the lead, but was met by Lorquet's fifth block of the night. The final defensive stand closed out the 59-58 victory for the Beacons.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Lorquet's 12 points and 15 rebounds gave him his 18th double double of the season, keeping him in a tie with Keene State's Jeff Hunter for third in NCAA DIII this season
• The Beacons outscored the Spartans 13-7 in second chance points and 20-2 in bench points
• UMass Boston is now 8-0 all time against Castleton University
• Castleton University has now lost 30 conseuctive Little East Conference games dating back to 2019 

 
WHO'S NEXT
 
The Beacons will look to hold on to the third seed in the LEC playoffs when they travel to Providence, Rhode Island to face Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon for a 3:00 PM tip-off. Earlier this season, UMass Boston took a dominant 79-62 victory on their home floor against the Anchormen.