UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Again?
Reeling from a heartbreaking 76-75 overtime loss at Boston College on Saturday afternoon, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team traveled to the Mohegan Sun Arena seeking revenge from Central Connecticut State for a 46-45 loss that marked one of the low points of the Minutemen’s 2002-03 season.
However, none would be served, as the Blue Devils again slipped past UMass by just a single point, winning 53-52 before a crowd of 3,554.
“It’s another tough game to lose,” UMass coach Steve Lappas said. “I just told the kids that we have 10 days to get ourselves healthy and regroup. Six games into the season we have our backs against the wall, obviously.
“We just need to respond now.”
The Minutemen were without the services of starting guard Art Bowers, who severely sprained his ankle against BC and is out indefinitely.
UMass, which will take a week off for exams, will return to action on Dec. 20 when Marshall visits the Mullins Center.
“We need to get back on the right track,” junior center Gabe Lee said. “We can’t play like we did tonight and expect to do well the rest of the season.”
Ron Robinson led all scorers with 21 points for the Blue Devils. Guards Demario Anderson and Justin Chiela both added nine for CCSU.
Sophomore forward Rashaun Freeman led the Minutemen with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while junior center Gabe Lee posted 12 points and eight rebounds.
It was, however, the numerous lay-ups and close-range shots the Minutemen were repeatedly unable to convert combined with 15 second half turnovers that ultimately sealed their fate.
“We had a lot of [easy baskets] that looked like they were in and just came out,” Lappas said. “If we make a couple lay-ups then we win the game pretty handily, we just didn’t finish around the basket.
“But the bottom line is that we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position, and it cost us.”
“I don’t really know what it was tonight,” sophomore forward Jeff Viggiano said. “We may have just gotten too confident and comfortable and started turning the ball over.”
Trailing 52-51 with just over 27 seconds remaining, CCSU opted to play for the last shot and found Robinson on the low block, where he was fouled on a quick spin move to the basket. He then hit both free throws, giving the Blue Devils a one-point edge with just under six seconds remaining.
Armed with a foul to give, Central Connecticut was whistled for contact against junior Anthony Anderson before the captain could advance the ball beyond half court, forcing the Maroon and White to inbound the ball deep in their own backcourt with under four seconds to play.
After Lappas called for a time out, Viggiano set up to inbound the ball along the sideline. Unable to spot a wide-open Freeman standing alone under the hoop, Viggiano forced the ball in to Anderson and had it slapped away as the buzzer sounded, giving CCSU its second one-point win over UMass in as many years.
“[On the last play] we ran Maurice Maxwell along the baseline and [Viggiano] looked at him, but Rashaun Freeman was wide open and Viggiano just didn’t see him,” Lappas said.
After jumping out to an early 5-0 lead, UMass’ lead grew to as high as six in the first half when a Freeman jumper made the score 22-16 at the 7:40 mark.
Leading by four to start the second half, the Minuteman pushed the advantage to nine with an 8-2 run highlighted by a pair of Viggiano dunks, the second of which made the score 41-32 with 15:28 remaining in the game.
Central Connecticut continued to chip away, however and eventually tied the game on the strength of a 7-1 burst that culminated with a Robinson lay-up that knotted things at 47 with 7:24 left.
The Blue Devils then took their first lead since the 5:49 mark of the first half as a Robinson jumper made the score 51-49 with 4:20 on the clock.
The Minutemen regained the lead at 52-51 just over two minutes later when Anderson drained a long three as the shot clock expired, but did not score again.
