The combination of UMass Dartmouth's 90-63 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut's 67-57 loss to Rhode Island College Tuesday night gave the Corsairs the 1997 Little East Conference regular season championship. This is Coach Brian Baptiste's ninth regular season crown in the 11-year history of the LEC and allows UMass Dartmouth to host next weekend's LEC Tournament at the Tripp Athletic Center on Feb. 28 and March 1. The winner of the LEC Tournament earns an automatic berth into the 1997 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament.

Winners of their last 13 in a row and ranked #4 with Salem State in this week's North East Region Division III Poll, the Corsairs (17-6, 9-2 LEC) clinched at least a share of the crown by jumping out to a quick first half-lead over Eastern Connecticut Tuesday night enroute to an easy 27-point victory. Within 42 seconds of the opening tap, field goals by Tony Moreira (Pawtucket, RI), Mosadi Caldwell (Providence, RI) and a three-pointer by captain Rick Taylor (Freetown, MA) opened a 7-0 lead and forced an ECSU time out. UMass Dartmouth extended its lead to as many as 26 at halftime with a 20-5 run sparked by ten points from Sean Donovan (Quincy, MA) and six from Moreira. Donovan finished with a game-high 19 points, including 4-9 from three-point range. Four other Corsairs hit double figures, including Ryan Bland (Dartmouth, MA) (14 pts, 3-5 on 3s), Moreira (14 pts, eight rebounds), Jason Antonio (Mattapoisett, MA) (13 points, four assists) and Caldwell (11 pts, four rebounds). Caldwell, the LEC's top rebounder with an average of eight per game, was selected to the LEC Honor Roll last week for the fourth time this season.

The Corsairs extended their winning streak to 12 with an 82-72 non-conference victory over Trinity College last Saturday afternoon at the Tripp Center. Caldwell led the Corsairs' attack with a game-high 23 points, nine rebounds and shot six of eight from the floor and 10-14 from the free throw line. Bland added 12 points (3-5 on 3s) and five assists, Taylor had 14 points and eight rebounds and Donovan was 2-3 on three-pointers, scoring nine points.

UMass Dartmouth will wrap up the 1997 regular season with an LEC game in Gorham, ME against the University of Southern Maine on Feb. 22. LEC Tournament action gets underway the following Tuesday night with first round games to be played on campus sites. Pairings and game locations will be determined after season's conclusion and announced next week. The semi-final and championship games will be played Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 at the Tripp Athletic Center.

The Corsairs stretched their most recent winning streak to five in a row with an 8-4 non-conference victory over Southern Maine Tuesday night at Hetland Arena. Ryan Sloper (Billerica, MA) stopped 27 shots to improve his record to 10-3 and the Corsairs got a pair of goals and an assist from Craig Hardy (Everett, MA) and Jarrod DiBona (Weymouth, MA) to spark the offensive attack. Trailing 1-0 early in the first period, the Corsairs ran off four straight goals for a 4-1 lead by the end of the period and two more midway through the second period for a commanding 6-1 lead. Mike Doherty (Stoneham, MA) started the barrage at 5:37 followed by goals from Hardy, Jason Cormier (Waltham, MA) and captain Marc Salvi (Cheshire, MA). Jarrod DiBona and Hardy scored the first two second period goals before Jarrod and Jeramie DiBona (Weymouth, MA) scored the last two goals for the 8-4 final score.

Coach John Rolli's squad (16-4-1, 9-2-1 ECAC Central) picked up a convincing 7-0 ECAC Central win over Tufts (6-11-2) in Medford on Feb. 15. Salvi and Jarrod DiBona each scored two goals and two assists to lead UMass Dartmouth to the victory. Tufts University kept it close through two periods, holding the Corsairs to a 3-0 lead before UMass Dartmouth ran off four third-period goals for the 7-0 final score. Goalie Louis Weimann (Burlington, VT) stopped all 25 Tufts University shots to pick up his first shutout of the season and improve his record to 6-1 in nine appearances.

Pat Schultz's (Wareham, MA) first-period goal, with assists from Doherty and Brian Keaveney (West Roxbury, MA), got the Corsairs off to a 1-0 lead. Goals by Brett Flint (Danvers, MA) and Salvi made it 3-0 after two periods before the UMass Dartmouth offense opened the game up in the third period. Salvi scored less than a minute into the period and added his second about three minutes later. Jarrod DiBona rounded out the Corsairs' scoring with a pair of late goals, including a power-play goal with assists from Salvi and Cormier.

An 8-1 ECAC Central victory over Stonehill College on Feb. 13 helped UMass Dartmouth remain in the hunt for a top spot in the division race. Four first-period goals gave the Corsairs a 4-1 lead at the first intermission and they never looked back. Three more goals in the second period and one more in the third rounded out the scoring. Seven different players scored goals with Jarrod DiBona picking up a goal and four assists and Jamie DiBona (Weymouth, MA) and Cormier adding a goal and two assists each. Sloper picked up his ninth victory of the season against three losses with 23 saves in goal.

UMass Dartmouth has two games remaining on its regular season schedule, including a crucial ECAC Central matchup at St. Michael's College on Feb 22. The Corsairs knocked of St. Michael's 7-5 at Hetland Arena on Feb. 8 and need a win for a chance to finish second in the ECAC Central behind front-running Bentley College. The Corsairs' final regular season home game is Feb. 26, against Suffolk University of the ECAC Central. A March 1 game at Roger Williams University will conclude the Corsairs' 1996-97 regular season with the ECAC Tournament scheduled to open March 5th.

Bradley Cardoza's (Wareham, MA) streak of first-place finishes was broken but he still qualified for the NCAA Division III national competition with a second-place finish in the New England Division III championship meet held Feb. 15 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. Cardoza placed second with a toss of 55-9 in the 35 lb weight. Cardoza had taken first place in the same event for a second week in a row last week when he led the field at the Smith College Invitational on Feb. 8. Cardoza, who already had a provisional qualification for the NCAA Division III meet (53-9 1/4 on Jan. 18), finished first at Smith with a throw of 52-7. Cardoza captured first place at a competition held two weeks ago at the Coast Guard Academy with a toss of 53-2 3/4.

UMass Dartmouth's triple jump team of Mitch Sousa (Fall River, MA) and Ken Papetti (Dedham, MA) had a solid showing in the New England Division III meet. Sousa finished fifth with a leap of 43-1 1/2 and his teammate, Papetti placed eighth with 42-4. Sousa also competed in the pentathalon and took home eighth place with a combined score of 2,931 points.

Trailing by only five at halftime to Eastern Connecticut Tuesday night, the Corsairs had a costly spell early in the second half and it led to their fifth straight loss. UMass Dartmouth (4-18, 2-9 LEC) fell behind by double digits early after the first few minutes of the second half and spent the remainder of the game trying to close the gap, eventually falling, 70-61. Kelly Berger (Buzzards' Bay, MA) finished as UMass Dartmouth's top scorer with 18 points, three steals and a pair of assists. Shannon Martin (Scituate, MA) added 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds plus four assists and three steals. Also finishing with double figures was Natarsha Silva (Brockton, MA) with 11 points, five rebounds four assists and a pair of steals.

In a non-conference game played Feb. 13 in Norton, MA, UMass Dartmouth got out to a slow start at Wheaton College and it ended up costing them the game. The Corsairs scored only 19 points in the first half and found themselves trailing, 37-19, enroute to a 100-62 defeat. UMass Dartmouth responded from the slow start with 43 second-half points but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit. Jennifer Pitner (Millis, MA) had a season-high 17 points to lead the Corsairs in scoring, connecting on six of 12 from the floor and three of six from three-point range. Silva added 14 points along with six rebounds and four steals, while Darilyn St. Germaine (Wareham, MA) chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds. Berger was 2-3 from three-point range and finished with eight points and three steals. Martin hit on four of five field goals (eight points), along with four rebounds and four steals.

Coach Cathy Houtman's Corsairs will conclude the regular season with a rematch against the LEC-leading Southern Maine Huskies in Gorham, ME on Feb. 22. Depending on where the Corsairs finish in the final LEC standings will determine where UMass Dartmouth will play its quarterfinal round game of the LEC Tournament next week. Pairings and locations will be announced following the conclusion of regular season play this Saturday.