AMHERST — After getting blown out Wednesday, the UMass basketball team was improved in almost every facet of the game. But while the margin was closer and the opponent better, the final result was still a loss.
The Minutemen stayed within striking distance for most of the game, but could never pull even and fell 79-74, Saturday before 3,219 fans at the Mullins Center.
“A loss is a loss. If you lose by 40 or lose by two, it’s a loss. It hurts,” said junior forward Seth Berger. “We obviously improved, but it’s still an L in that column.”
UMass coach Derek Kellogg felt like his team had missed an opportunity.
“That was tough not to come away with a win,” Kellogg said. “I thought our guys competed as a pretty good level. I thought our energy was really good. We had a lot of guys who contributed… If our record isn’t where it is I’d think that was a decent college game, but I think the win column is where we needed to get something done.”
UMass (13-14, 3-11), which dropped below .500 for the first time this season, is at George Washington Thursday at 7 p.m.
With 4:27 left and UMass trailing 69-60, a miss by Peyton Aldridge started a fast break. C.J. Anderson drove to the basket looking to cut the lead and grab momentum, but was called for a charge.
After another stop, the Minutemen got the ball to Rashaan Holloway (7 points, 13 rebounds), who was fouled. But he missed the front end of the 1-and-1.
Another defensive stop gave the Minutemen the ball again, but this time it was DeJon Jarreau, called for the offensive foul trying to attack the basket.
The teams traded empty trips again twice when a Donte Clark air-balled 3-pointer followed an Andrew McAuliffe miss. Davidson ended the mutual drought when Jack Gibbs sank two free throws with 2:27 left to make it 71-60.
After that UMass came to life. But the lost time was almost as costly as the missed shots. The Minutemen scored seven straight points on jumpers by Luwane Pipkins and Clark, followed by a 3 by Jarreau that made it 71-67 with exactly a 1:00 left.
Helped by some Wildcat free-throw misses, the Minutemen cut the deficit to 75-72 with 21 seconds left on a layup by Jarreau.
Davidson threw a long inbound over the UMass defense that was pinching in looking for a steal. But Ty Flowers raced back and blocked Jon Axel-Gudmundsson’s layup attempt. Flowers’ momentum took him out of bounds and Rusty Reigel was the next player back to get the rebound. The Wildcat guard was fouled and made both with 14 seconds left to put the visitors’ edge back to 77-72 essentially sealing the win.
Jarreau led UMass with 18 points and 9 rebounds, while Berger and Clark had 16 apiece. Jack Gibbs had led Davidson with 32 points but cooled off after intermission with just 8 in the second half.
McAuliffe was a difference-maker for the Wildcats. The senior big man averaged just 1.3 points in 6.8 minutes per game coming in, but he had 14 points, including 10 in the second half, when the Minutemen had contained Gibbs and Aldridge (3-for-18, 15 points, 13 rebounds).
“We made some inopportune mistakes at a lot of different junctures,” Kellogg said. “There was a stretch in the second half where we did things defensively that were out of character. I think that was a stretch where we gave them a chance to build the lead and pull away. When we fought back (the deficit) was already 8 to 10 points.”