Southern Maine improves to 10-6 overall and 5-1 in the Little East.  The Huskies are in a three-way tie for first place with Rhode Island College and Eastern Connecticut.  With its second straight loss, UMass Boston falls to 8-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference.

         In a tightly contested game, Southern Maine trailed the Beacons 29-26 at the half and were behind UMass Boston through the first eight minutes of the second stanza. The Beacons led Southern Maine 35-26 with 16:37 to play after opening the second half with a 6-0 run on baskets from sophomore guard Vinny DeLucia (Miami, Fla./Sagemont Upper School), freshman guard Jahleel Moise (Brockton, Mass.) and junior forward Rahshjeem Benson (Boston, Mass./Dorchester). Conversely, USM opened the second half missing its first four shots and turning the ball over once. 

         After Benson's jumper from the top of the key, for the Beacons 35-36 lead, Southern Maine rallied over the next six and a half minutes with a game-changing 18-7 run to secure its first lead since the midway point of the first half (14-12, 12:22).  Five different players scored for USM in the run, led by five points each from juniors Brandon Tomah (Princeton, Maine/Calais) and James Odneal (Pontiac, Mich./Bottineau) as USM took a narrow 44-42 lead with 10:10 to play.

         The Huskies maintained a two-point lead over the next two minutes and the Beacons trailed 48-46 on a layup from sophomore Brian Clarke (Miramar, Fla./Everglades), before USM extended its lead 55-48 on a 7-2 spurt with 6:20 to play. 

         UMass Boston made a final push on its next possession with a traditional three-point play from sophomore forward Carl Joseph (Brockton, Mass./Dorchester) to trail 55-51 at 5:51, but Southern Maine senior guard Mike Poulin (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) made a driving layup and Sullivan converted a steal from Tomah for an eight-point Husky advantage, 59-51, with 4:24 remaining.  The Beacons never got any closer than six points the rest of the game.

         Sullivan was 8-for-14 from the field for his game-high total. He added six rebound and four steals.  Senior guard Alex Kee (Bath, Maine/Morse) added 13 points, while Odneal finished with 11 points and three assists.

         Benson led the Beacons with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.  DeLucia was the only other UMass Boston player in double-figures scoring.  Joseph added eight points and seven rebounds off of the bench.

         Southern Maine travels to Eastern Connecticut on Saturday (3:00 p.m.).  UMass Boston hosts Western Connecticut State on Saturday (3:00 p.m.).  Both are Little East Conference games.

–cac–