Corsairs erased a 21-point deficit to defeat Emerson
UMass Dartmouth will play host-institution Nazareth College at 6:05 p.m. in the round of 32 on Saturday, March 5 - watch the game online!
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team made a roaring comeback to silence the Emerson Lions, 86-83, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at Kidera Gym on the campus of Nazareth College.
The Corsairs improve to 25-4 and advance to the round of 32, while the Lions end their season with an 18-8 record.
Senior Marcus Azor reached the 500-assist mark for his career and is now the single-season leader in assists in program history with 227, passing Reece Freeman '08. Azor did it all, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocked shots. Adam Seablom was crucial, the senior notched 19 points, while sophomore Isaac Percy hit the biggest shot of the day, a game-winning 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give him 10 points.
For Emerson, senior Jarred Houston was dominant inside, racking up 25 rebounds and five blocked shots to go with 16 points and five assists. Senior Zack Waterhouse led the team with 28 points, while junior Max Davis had 23.
The Corsairs stayed the course throughout the entire game. After Emerson made virtually every shot to take a 38-17 lead with 7:56 left in the first, UMass Dartmouth slowly chipped away. Senior Sean Leahy got it started with an offensive rebound and layup and junior John Martins Jr. kept it going with a pair at the line after a Davis elbow to the face. Shots by Seablom, Azor, and sophomore Mike Eurquhart at the halftime buzzer cut the deficit to 43-31 at the break.
Emerson built its advantage back to 18, taking a 57-39 lead with 14:51 on the clock. The comeback slowly started there. Azor took his time and nailed an uncontested three, and followed it with a fastbreak layup. Eurquhart scored inside, Azor sunk another open three and hit a tough shot inside to make it a 57-51 game with 12:18 to go.
Seablom and Martins Jr. found their strokes, each hitting a 3-ball to make it a three-point game, 60-57, at the 10:47 mark, but Emerson kept answering. The Lions would eventually extend their lead to 73-58 with 8:10 left.
Azor took over and scored seven points in a 9-4 run to keep it at an eight-point game at the 5:37 mark. Emerson remained on top by eight with 2:14 on the clock. Seablom then scored four-straight points, while graduate student Jake Ashworth and Azor kept it going to make it 83-81 with 23 ticks to go. Leahy pulled down a clutch offensive rebound and swung it to Percy who knocked down the shot of the day, a game-winning triple to make it 84-83. Seablom then sunk his free throws to send the Corsairs to the next round.