GORHAM, Maine  –  Senior Cody Hawes (Carmel, Maine/Hermon) and junior Chance Dixon (Lake Worth, Fla./Santaluces) combined to score 41 of the Huskies 77 points as the University of Southern Maine Huskies earned a 77-74 win over the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in a Little East Conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Trip Gymnasium.
 
Dixon was 7-for-11 from the floor, including 5-for-8 from three for his second consecutive game with at least 20 points.  He added three assists and three steals.  Hawes, who hit the Huskies' final bucket of the game with second to play to give them a three-point margin, was 7-for-11 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line, adding eight assits, four rebounds and three steals.  Senior Jason Lombard (Anchorage, Alaska/Chugiak) had a team and game-high 11 rebounds to go with six points, and two blocked shots.  Junior Clay Kuhn (Orlando, Fla./Winter Park) had 12 points.
 
UMD's Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer led all scorers with 29 points on 11-for-23 shooting (4-for-9 from three) and had 10 rebounds to secure the double-double.  Isaac Percy and John Martins each had 12 points for the Corsairs, while Nic Boyd added 10 points.  Martins and Boyd came off of the bench for the Corsairs.
 
 
The Records:
Southern Maine (9-5, 3-2 Little East)
UMass Dartmouth (3-9, 2-2 Little East)
 
 
Series History:  Today's game marked the 82^nd meeting between the Huskies and UMass Dartmouth.  The win for Southern Maine is the first over the Corsairs since an 84-78 win at home against UMD on February 3, 2018, and is just the 12 win over the Corsairs in the 82-game history.  UMD leads the series 70-12. 
 
How It Happened:

• Southern Maine started the game off hot, outscoring UMass Dartmouth 20-10 in the first 6:45 of the game, making 7-of-10 from the field (3-of-5 from three).  Dixon scored eight and Hawes had seven of the Huskies first 20 points of the contest.
• .UMass Dartmouth rallied itself back into the game with an 11-1 run over the next 4:26 to tie the game up at 21-21 with 8:30 left in the first half.  Isaac Percy scored six of the UMD points in the run as the Corsairs were 5-for-9 from the floor. USM was 0-for-5 during that stretch.  The game remained close the rest of the half, and USM led 32-30 at the break.
• The second half saw another hot start from the Huskies, outscoring UMD 11-2 in the first 1:57 to take a 43-32 lead with 17:39 to play.  The Huskies were 3-for-3 from the field, all three-pointers, including two from Dixon and one from junior Simon Chadbourne (Westbrook, Maine).
• USM led by 15, 63-48, after a three from freshman Mark Asare (Roswell, Ga./Centennial) before the Corsairs made a push over the next six minutes to make it a two possession game, 71-67, with 4:30 to play.  Sanders-Dyer and Martins each scored five points in the Corsairs 19-8 run.
• With the lead trimmed to four, Hawes made good on two free throws to extend the Huskies lead to 73-67 with 4:12 to play before five straight points from Sanders-Dyer (a three and two free throws), made it a one-point game, 73-72, with 1:21 to play. 
• USM's Kuhn and the Corsairs' Jackson Zancan each traded layups to keep it a one-point game, 75-74, with just over 30 second left before Hawes hit a tough short jumper in the paint under pressure to make it 77-74 with 17 to play. The Corsairs had a pair of looks at the basket to tie but USM was able to clear the final rebound for the win.

 
Inside The Stats:

• The Huskies shot a solid 49.1 percent (26-for-53) from the field for the game and were 52.4 percent (11-for-21) from three in the win. 
• Both teams kept turnovers to a minimum combining for 17 total.   USM scored 12 points off of eight UMD turnovers, while the Corsairs converted 11 points off nine USM turnovers. 
• UMass Dartmouth had a slight 38-34 edge in rebounding, but had 15 offensive boards.   The Corsairs scored 12 second chance points.

 
Up Next:
The Huskies remain in Little East Conference action and return home for a January 12 LEC match up with Eastern Connecticut (3:00 pm).