The Massachusetts men’s basketball team hoped to leave the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament with at least two wins under its belt. This goal didn’t come to fruition as it suffered a pair of 20-point losses, and left the tournament with just one win.
Charleston 85, UMass 61
The Minutemen lived by the 3-pointer against Utah. A night later, they died by it against Charleston.
UMass shot 4-for-28 from 3-point range and couldn’t contain a Cougars offense that countered the Minutemen’s dismal shooting display by going 12-for-23 on their 3-pointers.
Anthony Stitt and Antwaine Wiggins led all scorers with 23 points apiece, and Matt Sundberg chipped in 12. The trio combined to account for 11 of Charleston’s 12 3-pointers. Stitt, who came off the bench, also added eight assists.
The Cougars built a four-point halftime lead, thanks in large part to the absence of UMass’ leading scorer Chaz Williams. Charleston began to extend its lead when Williams committed his second foul just four minutes, 49 seconds into the game. He played just 10 minutes of the first half.
The second half belonged to the Cougars, as they outscored their counterpart 47-27.
Cady Lalanne starred off the bench for the Minutemen scoring 12 points, Jesse Morgan continued his successful tournament scoring 10 points, and Sean Carter narrowly missed a double-double, collecting 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Minutemen will look to get back on track as they play host to Towson on Thursday at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
UMass 89, Utah 75
The Minutemen poured in 15 3-pointers on Friday night against Utah for their only win in the Bahamas.
Morgan led five UMass players in double figures with 15 points, all of his points coming in the first half on a 5-for-6 3-point performance.
Williams (14 points, seven assists), Javorn Farrell (13 points), Freddie Riley (13 points) and Raphiael Putney (12 points) also contributed to the Minutemen victory over the Utes.
UMass found itself in a hole for a portion of the first half. However, with 10:52 remaining in the half, the Minutemen turned a 24-19 deficit into a nine-point halftime lead, thanks to a 25-11 run that featured four Morgan 3s.
The Utes were unable to recover against UMass, which built an unsurpassable second-half lead.
UMass went 15-for-30 from downtown. It distributed those 3s relatively evenly over the game, making eight in the first half, and seven in the second.
Overall, the Minutemen shot 50.7 percent from the field, and limited their turnovers to just 11.
Josh Watkins led Utah with 16 points, while Kareem Storey and Jason Washburn added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Florida State 73, UMass 53
The Minutemen fell to the No. 22 Seminoles, in their tournament opener on Thanksgiving.
FSU built a 10-point halftime lead, and then outmuscled the Minutemen in the second half, handing them their first loss of the season.
Michael Snaer led the Seminoles with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Luke Loucks chipped in 12, and Okaro White added 11.
UMass battled early in the game, taking a 21-20 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half. However, a 16-4 Florida State run over the remainder of the half, gave the Seminoles an 11-point lead.
Like the end of the first half, the second half of the game was completely dominated by FSU. The Minutemen briefly cut the lead to 10 with just under 13 minutes remaining, but were unable to get any closer over the final portion of the contest.
Putney led UMass with 11 points, while Maxie Esho scored a career-high 10, and Williams produced eight points, six assists and five steals.
Overall, the Minutemen had their sloppiest performance of the season thus far, against an elite defensive team. They shot just 27.9 percent from the floor, and went 2-for-23 (8.7 percent) on 3-pointers while turning the ball over a season-high 22 times.
Jackson Alexander can be reached at [email protected] and followed at @MDC_Alexander.
