After review, La Salle delivers UMass men's basketball first home loss
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AMHERST - For about a second, the Mullins Center erupted in celebration as Terrell Vinson's shot beat the final buzzer Saturday night. But the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team trailed by three and the referees quickly ruled the shot a two-pointer and the public address announcer delivered the bad news.
The Minutemen had a slim hope for a moment as the referees when to the video to make certain. But the original call stood and La Salle prevailed 72-71 to give UMass its first home loss of the season.
"I thought I stepped back," Vinson said. "I took a step back. I thought I got all of it behind the line, but I guess I didn't get behind it. The replay showed something different. It was tough."
The Minutemen trailed 60-51 with just over six minutes left. But Maxie Esho led UMass on a 15-4 run that Chaz Williams capped with a 3-pointer to put the Minutemen ahead 66-64 with 3:29 left.
After Jerrell Wright scored for the Explorers with two seconds left on the shot clock to tie the game, neither team scored again for almost two minutes before Tyreek Duren hit a falling floater in the lane to put La Salle up 68-66 with 48.9 seconds remaining.
Jesse Morgan missed an open 3-pointer, but Esho was fouled on the rebound. The freshman missed the front end of a one-and-one. Earl Pettis grabbed the rebound for the Explorers and made one of two free throws after Raphiael Putney fouled him.
Williams missed a drive at the other end and Duren made one of two free throws to stretch La Salle's edge to 70-66 with 21 seconds left. Putney's 3-point try was off the mark, but Esho put back the rebound and was fouled. He made the free throw to bring UMass within 70-69 with 13.1 seconds left.
Morgan fouled Duren, who made both free throws with 10.4 seconds left to extend the Explorers' lead to 72-69. Williams nearly turned the ball over crossing half court, but recovered and put up a 3-pointer with three seconds left. It was off the mark, but Williams tapped the rebound quickly out to Vinson, who instantly pulled the trigger, a step too close.
"Close games are always tougher because you figure you put in extra effort to get the extra possessions or the extra shots or the extra passes," Williams said. "For you to come up short, that's like taking away your dream. It did take a big punch out of us today. But we're the type of team that bounces back."
The Minutemen (18-8, 7-5 Atlantic 10), which lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, will host Xavier at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Missed free throws and 3-pointers haunted the Minutemen on Saturday, who made just nine of 18 from the line and four of 17 (one of nine in the second half) from behind the arc.
"I thought that hurt us a little bit. You can't go nine for 18 from the free throw line at home," Kellogg said. "We missed numerous open 3s. Jesse had three or four of them that were, I thought, open. That kind of was what happened to us at St. Joe's the other day. We missed open shots."
The loss came despite a career night for Esho, who had a career-high 18 points to go with six rebounds and three steals.
"That's kind of what bothers me, that Maxie had 18 and we still lost. You would think that if he has 18 points and six rebounds, that huge boost would give us the victory," Kellogg said. "I thought he changed the complexion of the game with his energy and his athleticism.
"The way it looks right now, if I'm watching as the coach, I would say he needs to play more," he added. "He's done that quite often. Now he's just got to be more consistent and continue to give it to us."
Putney (seven rebounds, three blocks) added 17 points, but just four came in the second half. Williams had 11 points, 10 assists (two turnovers) and seven rebounds.
Pettis paced La Salle (18-9, 7-5 A-10) with 18 points (17 in the first half), while Ramon Galloway, Duren and Wright each had 15.
"I thought La Salle played a good basketball game. I thought we were sloppy at times and didn't take advantage of some opportunities," Kellogg said. "When we had our chances to, I guess, win the basketball game, we didn't take advantage."
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.
