With a 69-66 victory over second-seed UMass Boston, the top-seeded Corsairs captured the Little East Conference Tournament Saturday at the Tripp Athletic Center and earned an automatic berth into the 1996-97 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament.

Coach Brian Baptiste's Corsairs (20-6), seeded second in the Northeast Region, will open the NCAA tournament Thursday, March 6 by putting its 16-game winning streak on the line when they host seventh-seeded Tufts University (19-5) in a first round game at the Tripp Center. Game time is 7:30 p.m. UMass Dartmouth was ranked #3 in last week's Northeast Region poll and 20th nationally, before taking the LEC tournament and moving up to the #2 seed in the region. Williams College (22-2) was seeded first followed by UMass Dartmouth, Salem State (20-3), Amherst College (20-4), Colby College (20-4), Springfield College (23-4), Tufts University and Wentworth Institute (20-7).

A pair of free throws by captain Rick Taylor (Freetown, MA) with 19 seconds remaining gave #1 seed UMass Dartmouth its 69-66 victory over UMass Boston in the Little East Conference Tournament championship game on March 1. After Taylor's two free throws gave UMass Dartmouth a 68-64 lead, UMass Boston's Sean Harrington cut the lead to two with 13.3 seconds. Ryan Bland (Dartmouth, MA), the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, put the game away by hitting a free throw with 12.1 seconds remaining for the 69-66 final.

Bland led all scorers with 20 points, four assists and a pair of three-pointers. Jason Antonio (Mattapoisett, MA) had 19 points and Taylor added 18 points and four rebounds. Mosadi Caldwell (Providence, RI) grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for the Corsairs. Damal Ray led UMass Boston with 19 points, including five threes.

In the first half, Taylor's eight points helped the Corsairs jump out to a 20-12 lead in the game's first eight minutes. UMass Boston (17-10) ran off 14 straight points over the next three minutes, sparked by three straight three-pointers by Ray. But seven more points from Taylor led a seven-minute, 14-0 UMass Dartmouth run to close out the first half with the Corsairs leading, 40-31. The Corsairs had the lead up to 11 in the second half (61-50) with less than four minutes to play, but the scrappy Beacons fought back to cut the lead to two before Bland iced the game with his last free throw.

The LEC Tournament championship is UMass Dartmouth's eighth in the LEC's 11-year history. The Corsairs captured their sixth straight LEC regular season title with a 10-2 record. Joining Bland on the All-Tournament team were Alex Butler of Rhode Island College, Jay Wetherell of Eastern Connecticut, Ray and Sean Harrington of UMass Boston and Caldwell.

The Corsairs advanced to the LEC Tournament championship following a thrilling semi-final victory over Rhode Island College. Bland's game-winning basket with one second remaining lifted UMass Dartmouth to the two-point victory over RIC on Feb. 28. Bland's basket capped a 14-2 comeback by the Corsairs over the game's last four minutes. Fifth-seeded Rhode Island College (16-10) led 60-52 with 4:07 remaining before UMass Dartmouth staged its last second comeback.

Butler led all scorers with 20 point. Bland was the Corsairs' top scorer with 17 points and five rebounds. Caldwell added 15 points and nine rebounds and Antonio had 14 points.

Trailing 52-51 with eight minutes remaining, RIC ran off nine straight points to take a 60-52 lead with 4:07 remaining. Down the stretch however, the Corsairs held RIC to only a Butler field goal while outscoring the Anchormen, 14-2. A pair of Caldwell free throws with 47.2 seconds remaining tied the game at 62-62 and set the stage for Bland's last second field goal.

For the second year in a row, Caldwell was named a First Team LEC All Star. An Honorable Mention selection last year, Bland was also named to the First Team with Caldwell. RIC's Alex Butler was named Player of the Year for the second straight year and UMass Boston Coach Charlie Titus was named the LEC Coach of the Year.

For the 14th consecutive season, the ECAC North-Central-South Tournament will include the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth. Coach John Rolli's Corsairs (18-4-2) finished third in the ECAC Central this season with a 10-2-2 mark and are seeded fifth in the eight-team tournament which includes teams from all three ECAC Division III leagues. ECAC Central winner Bentley College is the tournament's top seed (18-8-1), followed by #2 Fitchburg State (16-8-1), #3 Skidmore and the Corsairs' quarterfinal round opponent, #4 St. Michael's (17-6-1). Rounding out the field are #6 Assumption (14-11-1), #7 Worcester State (13-10-1) and #8 Framingham State (14-9-1.)

UMass Dartmouth will face a familiar team in St. Michael's College in the quarterfinals. The Corsairs will make the long trip to Colchester, VT for the second time in 11 days. On Feb. 22, UMass Dartmouth and St. Michael's played to a 3-3 ECAC Central overtime tie. Earlier this season in a game played at Hetland Arena in New Bedford, the Corsairs got past St. Michael's 7-5 on February 8. St. Michael's finished second in the ECAC Central this season with UMass Dartmouth right behind them in third place.

The tie with St. Michael's snapped a five-game winning streak by UMass Dartmouth, but in the Corsairs' two remaining regular season games, they got back on the winning track, skating to a pair of easy victories. UMass Dartmouth knocked off Suffolk University, 11-4, in the final ECAC Central game of the season and followed it with a 10-2 non-league victory over Roger Williams University in the regular season finale. The Corsairs have gone eight straight games without a loss as they enter the ECAC North-Central-South tournament. A 5-2 loss to tournament-bound Framingham State on Feb. 1 was UMass Dartmouth's last loss.

In the 11-4 win over Suffolk University on Feb. 26, UMass Dartmouth scored the game's first five goals and cruised the rest of the way as John DeFazio (Cranston, RI) and Jason Ferranti (Waltham, MA) each had a pair of goals and Jamie DiBona (Weymouth, MA) had a goal and five assists to lead the scoring attack. Goalie Ryan Sloper (Billerica, MA) stopped 11 shots to earn his 11th win of the season against only three losses. Sloper's goals against average is 2.55 with a saves percentage of .899. First period goals by Pat Schultz (Wareham, MA), captain Marc Salvi (Cheshire, MA), Ferranti, Shawn Clark (Somerville, MA) and Jeff Watson (Amherst, MA) were all the Corsairs needed. Shawn Richmond (Newburyport, MA) and Jamie DiBona added a pair of second period goals before DeFazio, Clark, DeFazio's second goal and another by Ferranti rounded out the scoring for UMass Dartmouth.

The Corsairs kept their goal-scoring machine running in their season finale at Roger Williams University. Four first-period goals by Hardy, Mike Doherty (Stoneham, MA), Hardy again and DeFazio gave UMass Dartmouth a 4-0 lead. Five straight second period goals by Salvi, Ferranti, Jason Cormier (Waltham, MA), Schultz and DeFazio's second put the Corsairs ahead 9-0 after two periods. In the final period, Doherty's second goal concluded the Corsairs' scoring in the 10-2 final. Louis Weimann (Burlington, VT) picked up the win in goal, stopping 21 shots to improve his record to 7-1-1 with a 2.66 goals against average and a .904 saves percentage.

As they head into the ECAC North-Central-South tournament, the Corsairs are among the top goal-scoring teams in the country. Jarrod DiBona (Weymouth, MA) leads all Corsairs' scorers with 17 goals and 25 assists, followed by Salvi's 13 goals and team-high 28 assists for 41 points and Hardy (15-22-37). Tied for fourth in scoring are Doherty (20-14-34) and Cormier (14-20-34).

Julie Briggs (Jefferson, MA) was the Corsairs' top performer at the annual ECAC Championship meet held at Boston University on March 1. Briggs captured sixth place in the 20 lb. weight with a toss of 45 feet, 1/2 inch. The toss was good enough to make Briggs a provisional qualifier for the upcoming NCAA Division III championship meet.

With a late-season scoring surge, Kelly Berger (Buzzards Bay, MA) finished as the Corsairs' leading scorer for the 1996-97 women's basketball season. Coach Cathy Houtman's team posted a 4-20 record and 2-10 for sixth place in the LEC. Berger averaged 11.75 points per game to take top honors, followed by Darilyn St. Germaine (Wareham, MA) at 9.1 pts, Natarsha Silva (Brockton, MA) with 8.75 pts and Shannon Martin (Scituate, MA) with 8.17 pts. St. Germaine was the Corsairs' leading rebounder with an average of 9.45 rebs with Martin second at 6.63 rebs. Silva led the team in assists (75), Berger had the most assists (86) and Berger also had the most three-pointers, connecting on 35-109 for 32.1%......Even though the winter sports seasons aren't quite over, the UMass Dartmouth spring teams have already begun practice for their upcoming seasons. Coach Bruce Wheeler's baseball team is scheduled to open with a pair of games at Stonehill College on March 15-16 and one at Salve Regina on March 18 before leaving for its trip to California......Coach Marilyn Ritz's softball team will open its seaon in Ft. Meyers, Florida when they compete in the Gene Cusick Collegiate Classic March 22-29......The Corsairs' men's tennis team under the direction of Coach Warren Preti will begin their season on the road at Stonehill College on March 20......Coach Jon Hird's men's and women's track teams will begin their spring season by competing in the Rhode Island College Relays on March 22.