The Week That Was

January 7, 1997 - January 13, 1997

by Jim Mullins
Assistant Director
Sports Information

Corsairs take two last week over
Plymouth State and Brandeis

The Corsairs earned their second victory in a row Saturday afternoon, knocking Little East Conference rival Plymouth State College from the ranks of the conference unbeatens with an 82-74 victory at the Tripp Center. Coming three days after UMass Dartmouth (4-5, 1-1 LEC) defeated Brandeis University, 84-71, Coach Brian Baptiste's team has won three of its last four games, heading into its first full week of action since the holiday break.

In his fourth game since returning to the team, Mosadi Caldwell (Providence, RI) had his best performance thus far, scoring 21 points and grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds. An LEC Honor Roll selection this week for averaging 15 points and 12 rebounds and shooting 53% from the floor, Caldwell was one of four Corsairs to hit double figures along with captain Rick Taylor (Freetown, MA), who added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Jason Antonio (Mattapoisett, MA) (13 points, four assists) and Ryan Bland (Dartmouth, MA) (10 points, five assists, three blocked shots). Despite shooting 50% from the floor in the first half (16-32), Plymouth State trailed, 42-35 and found themselves down by as much as 20 (61-41) early in the second half. Plymouth State narrowed the lead to six (66-60) midway through the half, but UMass Dartmouth outshot (11-20, 50%) and outrebounded (40-28) the Panthers enroute to the eight-point win.

Against Brandeis University on Jan. 8, Bland led the Corsairs' attack with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, along with four steals and three three-pointers to help UMass Dartmouth to its third win of the season. Taylor added 19 points and six rebounds plus a pair of threes, while Tim Nelson (Reading, MA) chipped in 12 points (2-4 on three-pointers) and Sean Donovan (Quincy, MA) had 11 points (3-9 on threes). As a team, the Corsairs connected on 10 of 25 from three-point range. Caldwell had nine points and eight rebounds.

Bland is among the top ten players in six of the LEC's statistical categories, including scoring (3rd, 15.9 pts/game), rebounding (6.7 reb/game), field goal percentage (4th, 39.7%), free throw percentage (8th, 69.4%), assists (3.4 assists/game), and steals (3 steals/game). Along with Bland, the Corsairs have two others among the conference's top 10, including Taylor (5th, 13.7 pts/game) and Antonio (7th, 12.4 pts/game). Taylor is fourth in rebounding (6.2 reb/game), second in field goal percentage (50%, 50-100) and fourth in blocked shots (1.0/game). Antonio is fourth in three-pointers (15-40, 37.5%) and fifth in assists (2.9 per game). Tony Moreira (Pawtucket, RI) is fifth in free throws in the LEC, connecting on 77.5% (31-40) followed by Antiono (27-35, 77%) and Bland.

UMass Dartmouth has three among top ECAC Central scorers

Through games played December 17, the Corsairs (9-1, 3-1 ECAC Central) had three goal scorers in the ECAC Central's top seven. Craig Hardy (Everett, MA) was the Corsairs' leading scorer (6-5-11), third in the conference, followed by Jason Cormier (Waltham, MA) (4-5-9) and Mike Doherty (Stoneham, MA) (5-4-9) tied for sixth. Hardy leads the Corsairs in scoring through the first 10 games (8-14-22), followed by Jarrod DiBona (Weymouth, MA) (8-9-17) and Doherty (10-7-17) tied for second, and Jeramie DiBona (Weymouth, MA) (7-9-16) and captain Marc Salvi (Cheshire, MA) (4-12-16) tied for third.

The Corsairs return to the ice on Thursday, January 16 with an ECAC Central game at New Hampshire College. Earlier this season, UMass Dartmouth knocked off NH College, 10-3 at Hetland Arena.

UMass Dartmouth will be back home on Tuesday, January 21 when they host Bentley College in a 7:30 p.m. game.

UMass Dartmouth Sports Notes

A lucky Corsair basketball fan will get a chance to win $5,000 at one of the next seven UMass Dartmouth men's basketball home games. One fan, picked randomly from the fans in the stands, will have an opportunity to attempt to make a lay up, free throw, three-point shot and a half-court shot within 30 seconds. Make all the shots within the time limit and the lucky fan will win $5,000. The contest will continue this season until someone wins the $5,000 prize. The Corsairs' home games where the contest will be held are Jan. 14 vs. UMass Boston, Jan. 21 vs. RIC, Jan. 25 vs. Southern Maine, Feb. 6 vs. Salem State, Feb. 8 vs Western Conn., Feb. 15 vs. Trinity College and Feb. 18 vs. Eastern Connecticut.

This Week's Schedule
(home games in bold)

Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
14 Men's & Women's Basketball	15	16 M's B-ball W's B-ball Ice Hockey	17	18 Basketball Track Swimming Ice Hockey

Tuesday, January 14

Men's basketball vs. UMass Boston
Women's basketball vs. UMass Boston

Thursday, January 16

Men's basketball @ Clark University
Women's basketball vs. St. Joseph's
Ice hockey @ New Hampshire College

Saturday, January 18

Men's basketball @ Wheaton College
Women's basketball @ Clark University
Men's indoor track @ Bates College
Women's indoor track @ Bowdoin College
Women's swimming vs. WPI
Men's swimming vs. WPI
Ice hockey vs. Tufts University

Jim Mullins
Assistant Director, Sports Information and Daily News
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
Dartmouth,MA 02747-2300
Phone: News (508) 999-8965 Sports (508) 999-8720
Fax: (508) 999-9200
JMullins@UMassD.edu
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 Last Updated On: 6/5/06