BOSTON, MA (February 19, 2025) – In their honorary Senior Night celebration, the UMass Boston men's basketball team (13-11, 8-8 Little East Conference) outlasted the Vermont State University Castleton Spartans (4-19, 3-12 LEC) in a 74-71 fight to the finish from the Clark Gymnasium in the 2024-25 LEC Regular Season finale.
First-year Raphel Laurent led six UMass Boston scorers with 21 points on nine made field goals to come up big on Senior night.

Prior to tipoff, the Beacons honored six student-athletes in their final regular season home game under the Clark Gymnasium lights. The full presentation can be found here:

How It Happened:

First Half:

• Emanuel Zayas (Hollywood, Fla.) got things going in signature fashion with a deep three to open the scoring for the Beacs.
• The Spartans came out of the gates hot from the field, knocking down six of their first eight field goals to spring out to an 18-5 point advantage. Laurent notched his first two points after cleaning up his own miss to end the run.
• UMass Boston responded with ten straight points, capped off by graduate forward Mark Barrett's (Brookline, Mass.) second basket of the game. Barrett's layup brought the Beacs to within three points 10 minutes into the first half.
• Following six unanswered points to give VTSU Castleton 24 points and a nine-point advantage, UMass Boston leveled the game even at 5:57 when Barrett found forward Tyler Victor (Brockton, Mass.) on the back cut for his first points of the game.
• In the final six minutes of the first half, the Beacons were able to carve out an eight-point advantage through a 6-14 run, initiated by Xavier McKenzie's (Lowell, Mass.) pull-up midrange off another Barrett assist, and closed off with a Laurent finish in the paint.
• The Beacons finished the first half with 38 points, led by ten points from Laurent, and nine points from Zayas.

Second Half:

• Laurent scored the first four points for the Beacons, giving them a 10-point lead in the beginning of the final half, their largest lead of the game.
• The Spartans remained within reach for the remainder of the game. They carved their way out of the 10-point deficit off seven consecutive points, before McKenzie halted the momentum with another midrange jumper.
• With ten minutes remaining, the Beacs added 14 points in the half and led by two. Anthony Gauthier (Jaffrey, N.H.) initiated the final push from a Zayas assist, finishing inside the paint to give UMass Boston a four-point cushion.
• First-year Davon Sanders (Mansfield, Mass.) finished on the steal and score to push the lead to six points with eight minutes remaining.
• The Spartans were able to briefly take a one-point lead off an offensive tip-in from Will Radcliff, before Barrett retook control off the post finish.
• The Spartans came within one point again with 2:45 remaining, but the Beacons found the spark they needed from Laurent in the paint  and Zayas at the charity stripe.
• With the Beacons up by four with under 20 seconds remaining, Troy Butler stepped into a heavily contested three pointer that found twine and gave the Spartans a desperate sign of life. Up by one point with four seconds remaining, Laurent was sent to the free-throw line and hit two-of-two free throws to give the Beacons a three-point cushion in the final moments. The Spartans used all their luck getting to the final moment, as their buzzer-beating heave was well short, and the Beacons staved off the Spartans on their home court in a spectacular regular season finish from the Clark Gymnasium.

By the Box:

• Laurent's 21 was supported by 13 from Zayas, 11 from McKenzie, and 10 from Gauthier. Zayas hit three triples from downtown, and supplied five assists. McKenzie was efficient on both ends, going 5-9 from the field and ripping two steals.
• Gauthier was an energizer for UMass Boston. In the win, he recorded his first career double-double with the Beacons, pulling in a team-high 10 rebounds to go with his 10 points.
• Barrett made his impact once again in all categories. He scored nine points, pulled in seven rebounds, dished out nine assists, and swiped a team-high five steals.
• The Beacons were +12 with Victor on the court, as he contributed two blocks with six points and eight rebounds.
• Sanders had the biggest impact on the floor. In 21 minutes, the first-year scored four points, five rebounds, and was +13 while on the court.
• The Beacons outlasted the Spartans through three lead changes, and remained in control for 25:06 total game time.

Scoring Breakdown:

• The Beacons outscored the Spartans 15-9 off turnovers, 50-22 in the paint, 8-6 off second chance points, 12-11 on the fastbreak, and a whopping 40-3 advantage through bench points. UMass Boston outscored the Spartans 38-30 in the first, and scored 36 in the second half on 40% (26-65) total shooting.

What's Next:

• With Wednesday;s victory, the Beacons conclude the 2024-25 LEC Regular Season with an 8-8 conference record, good for fourth in the conference. The Beacons will play host in round one to the LEC five-seed, following the conclusion of the remaining LEC matchups. This is the 11^th consecutive season the Beacs have reached postseason play. The potential matchup could include either the University of Southern Maine Huskies (11-13, 7-8 LEC), or the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs (9-15, 6-9 LEC). This season, the Beacons are 1-1 against the Huskies this season, most recently winning 87-82 from the Clark Gymnasium on February 5, and 0-2 against the Corsairs. Stay tuned next week for further details and information regarding the 2025 Beacons' LEC Postseason appearance.