BOSTON  – Raphel Laurent and Emanuel Zayas each scored 27 points and five players scored in double-figures as the fourth seed UMass Boston Beacons defeated the fifth seed University of Southern Maine Huskies 108-93 in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 Little East Conference men's basketball tournament Tuesday night at Clark Gymnasium.
 
Laurent was 10-for-17 from the field while Zayas was 9-for-16, including four threes.  Xavier McKenzie and Davon Sanders each had 16 points, while Anthony Gauthier added 10 points.
 
Southern Maine junior Thomas Whelan (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) led five Huskies in double-figures with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists.  Freshman Evans Sterling (New Sharon, Maine/Mt. Blue) had 16 points off of the bench shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, while graduate student Bryce Lausier (Glenburn, Maine/Hampden Academy) had 13 points and seven rebounds.  Sophomores Brady Saunders (Brewer, Maine) and Evan Willey (Casco, Maine/Bridgton Academy) each had 12 points.
 
The Records:
No. 5 Southern Maine (12-14)
No. 4 UMass Boston (14-11)
 
 
Series History:  Today's game marked the 116th meeting between the UMass Boston Beacons and the University of Southern Maine Huskies. Southern Maine leads the overall series 69-48. The Huskies and Beacons split the regular season series with each team winning on the road.  Both teams were dead even at 5-5 in the last 10 meetings, dating back to the 2019-2020 season.
 
How It Happened:

• Saunders hit a three for the first bucket of the game to give USM a 3-0 lead, but the Beacons were lights out in the first 10 minutes of the contest, outscoring the Huskies 35-13 after the first points of the game. The Beacons were 14-for-21 from the field with four threes.  Zayas scored 12 of the Beacons opening 33 points, while Laurent and Gauthier had eight and six each for a 35-16 UMB lead with 9:36 on the clock. 
• Back-to-back-to-back buckets on a turn around jumper from Lausier and a jumper and a three from Willey made it a 10-point game 35-25 with 6:25 to play, but the Beacons closed the half on a 20-10 run to lead by 20, 55-35. Laurent scored nine of the Beacons' final 20 points as UMB was 9-for-16 in the final 6:12 of the game.
• USM outscored the Beacons 58-53 in the second half, but was never able to recover from its first half deficit.  UMB held its largest lead of the game, 86-61, at the 8:11 mark of the second half following an and-oine play from Sanders.  The Huskies outscored UMB 15-6 over the next 3:33 to pull to within 16, 92-76, at the 4:38 mark, but the Beacons stayed comfortably in front the rest of the way for the 108-93 final.

 
Inside The Stats:

• UMass Boston shot 50.7 percent (38-for-57) from the field, and Southern Maine shot 50.0 percent (30-for-60). Both teams hit seven three-pointers.  USM was 26-for-30 at the line, while UMB was 25-for-33.
• UMass Boston scored 32 of its points off of Husky turnovers. Southern Maine committed 22 turnovers to the Beacons 10.

 
 
Up Next:
… advances to the semifinal round of the 2025 Little East Conference Championship Tournament, and will face regular-season champion Keene State College on Thursday, February 27 (7:00 pm). 
 
 
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