Clank.
Isaiah Swope misses a wide-open three that would’ve given Saint Louis the lead with 14 seconds left.
Luckily for him, Amari McCottry dives on the floor to grab the offensive rebound and makes the pass back to his teammate for a chance at redemption. This time, Swope steps into his shot from deep behind the line and nails it for the win.
The Massachusetts basketball team lost in heartbreaking fashion, 73-71 to the Billikens (14-9, 7-3 Atlantic 10) after holding a five-point lead with just 49 seconds to play. Despite controlling the game for the majority of the 39 minutes prior, a couple of mistakes made all the difference.
“I never once, in my mind, on the sideline [envisioned] us not winning the game, the way we were playing and the way we were controlling the game,” head coach Frank Martin said.
Daniel Rivera brought the ball across half-court for the Minutemen (10-13, 5-5 A-10) as time ticked under 50 seconds to play. Despite holding a decent lead, the senior left his feet while driving to the hoop, and sent a pass into the arms of McCottry.
“Rivera coming 100 miles per hour, that’s not a good decision on his part,” Martin said.
The turnover generated a fastbreak layup opportunity for Swope, shrinking the UMass lead to three. Jaylen Curry was then fouled on the ensuing inbound, where his missed free-throw again allowed Saint Louis to get down the court for an easy bucket.
Now just a one-point game, Jayden Ndjigue was set to inbound for the Minutemen. His pass was quickly snatched out of the air by McCottry, who found Swope for the initial missed three-pointer with 14 seconds to play.
After UMass lost its lead, there were nine seconds remaining on the clock. Rahsool Diggins made his way all the way down the court to the rim, attempting to tie the game with a layup under the hoop, but was denied by Kalu Anya as time expired.
“I think we just decided to play too fast,” Diggins said of his team’s late-game struggles. “Instead of playing time and situation, taking smart shots, focusing on getting stops and executing.”
The Minutemen held the lead for over 17 minutes of the second half, using their physicality to generate 21 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points over the course of the game.
Despite his questionable decision in the last minute of the contest, Rivera contributed to UMass’s success, finishing with nine offensive rebounds of his own, adding to his total of 14. He also tallied 14 points to round out his double-double.
Layups have been a rough spot for the Minutemen throughout the season to this point, and it continued on Tuesday. The team finished 9-29 in the layup department, quite the lopsided tally compared to the Billikens’ 17-25 effort.
“I think I got sped up a little bit [Tuesday], not focusing on the shot, focusing on making the layup,” Diggins said. “I think we’ve just got to convert those. I don’t think it was too much of a big presence at the rim; I think it was self-inflicted.”
Diggins had an uncharacteristic off-night for UMass, finishing with just five points, shooting just 2-of-15 from the field. After 11 consecutive games scoring in double figures, the senior struggled to generate and knock down his open looks against an aggressive Saint Louis defense.
Down the stretch, free throws proved to be a huge proponent of the final result. Curry’s miss at the line at the end of the contest left him just 1-of-6 on the night, helping lead to a rough 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) team effort.
“We did everything right until the last 35 seconds of the game, but at the bottom line, if you can’t make free throws, you’re not winning close games,” Martin said.
The brutal loss for the Minutemen has just four days to linger, as the Minutemen travel to Philadelphia, PA to take on La Salle on Sunday, Feb. 9. Tipoff from John Glaser Arena is set for 2 p.m.
“I’ve coached, I don’t know how many games, 500-something,” Saint Louis head coach Josh Schertz said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever walked out of a gym winning a game feeling less like, ‘Ah, you know, I understand why we won that game.'”
Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.