Jesse Morgan steps in to score 14 in leading UMass basketball over Davidson
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AMHERST - With only one true point guard on the roster, one of the big questions heading into the season was how would the University of Massachusetts fare if Chaz Williams ever got injured or in foul trouble.
It took 13 games to find out, but with Williams sitting with four fouls, Jesse Morgan turned in the best game of his UMass career as the Minutemen defeated Davidson 73-65 Thursday at the Mullins Center.
Morgan led UMass with 14 points, three assists and one turnover. Williams picked up his first foul 19 seconds into the game and was called for his fourth with just under 10 minutes left. But the Minutemen didn't miss a beat with Morgan.
"We looked better offensively for awhile with Jesse in the game," UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. "I was happy for Jesse. He's a guy who's had to learn two positions and hasn't gotten great at either of them quite yet because of that. He seems to be getting a little better."
Javorn Farrell, who was pressed into point guard duty himself in previous years, praised Morgan's play.
"It gives us a lot of confidence to know that, we have to rely on Chaz, but even when he's in foul trouble, we know we won't have any letdowns coming in off the bench when Jesse goes in to play the point guard," Farrell said.
UMass trailed 39-34 early the second half, when Maxie Esho, who had only attempted four previous 3-pointers in his career and had yet to make one, launched one from just left of the top of the key as Will Reigel fouled him. The shot dropped through the net as Esho hit the ground and Kellogg pumped his first. After a timeout, Esho completed the rare four-point play. The sequence started a 12-0 UMass run that Esho finished with a putback off a Freddie Riley missed free throw, giving UMass a 46-39 lead with 12:53 left in the second.
Esho finished with 12 points, four rebounds and four steals in the game and drew praise from Davidson coach Bob McKillop.
"Esho really hurt us," McKillop said. "He came of the bench and had four steals and he made a couple of big shots. He hurt us quite a bit."
Kellogg agreed.
"Maxie was phenomenal," Kellogg said. "He changed the complexion of the game with his athleticism."
Davidson answered with eight straight points to briefly regain the lead 47-46. But Riley made a jab step to shed a defender and then stepped back and knocked down a 3-pointer to regain the lead and bring the crowd of 3,821 back into it.
Riley made another 3 to stretch the UMass edge to five as the Minutemen never trailed again. The Wildcats pulled within three with just over two minutes left, but Williams fed Terrell Vinson in the corner. The junior forward hadn't made a field goal in the game until that point, but he drained a 3-pointer that essentially clinched the win.
Raphaiel Putney, Farrell and Williams each added 10 points for the Minutemen, while Sean Carter had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots to go with his four points.
De'Mon Brooks led Davidson (7-4) with 22 points.
UMass (10-3) is off until Dec. 30 when it hosts Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center.
"My first two years here, we went into the break with a loss," Farrell said. "I know that the next couple days when we got back to practice, it was definitely a lot harder than we would have liked it. I think that getting this win tonight and getting these couple days off to go home, when we get back, we'll be more at ease and we'll feel more ready to go in and beat Central Connecticut State."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
