AMHERST – Noah Fernandes scored 15 points, but his last-second shot fell well short, as the UMass men’s basketball team dropped a 78-77 decision against La Salle on Wednesday at the Mullins Center.

“I wasn’t sure what they were going to do defensively, if they're going to double, hedge me, switch it. I wasn't really sure, so mentally I was a little messed up there,” Fernandes said. “I just tried to get a good look at the end and couldn't.”

Fernandes dribbled the ball the entire final 19 seconds. He worked through a ball screen from Wildens Leveque, playing his first game since Dec. 20, with plans for passes to either Leveque, a posting up Matt Cross off a back cut or RJ Luis curling for a jumper. Enough of a lane opened to Fernandes’ eye, and he attacked off the dribble. La Salle’s Khalil Brantley picked him up at the 3-point line and forced him baseline. Fernandes couldn’t shake him and couldn’t get his fadeaway jumper to the rim.

“Give the guy credit. Their guy didn't flinch. He stayed down, guarded him and made it really hard,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “(Fernandes) got himself too deep on the floor. And if you get yourself too deep on the floor, you can't see passes.”

Final: la salle 78, UMass 77. UMass comeback falls just short pic.twitter.com/OorO6MZkSP

— Kyle Grabowski (@kylegrbwsk) January 12, 2023

La Salle beat UMass for the first time since January of 2019, snapping a six-game losing streak.

Explorers (8-8, 2-1 Atlantic 10) guard Jhamir Brickus poured in 22 points to lead the second half surge. After scoring just three points before halftime, he sank his first five shots and staked the Explorers a lead. His 3 with 16:45 left tied the game at 48. Then Brickus dropped in a step back to tie the game again at 50 a minute later after Fernandes restored the UMass advantage.

He hit another 3 to give La Salle its first lead of the second half 53-50 and made it 56-53 with a wide open 3 at 14:04 after a rebound squirted out of RJ Luis’ hand.

Brickus scored 17 points across 10 minutes in the second half as La Salle built a 70-63 lead with 7:57 left. He poured in 19 in total after halftime.

“We just had to guard him. It's tough for me because I'm guarding Brantley who's their leading scorer. I don't really want to leave him and get him going,” Fernandes said. “I think we do a lot of blaming on one person, you kind of look at matchups and this guy versus that guy, but at the end of the day, there's five guys out there playing defense, so I think you could always help each other out.”

During the same stretch, the Minutemen turned the ball over five times.

The Explorers’ advantage stretched to as many as 10 after Khalil Brantley swished a 3 in Fernandes’ face with 5:22 left to make it 77-67.

“Ever since we got back from Christmas our team defense is non existent. We’re not defending and when you don't defend, you got no chance to win,” Martin said.

UMass (10-6, 1-3) surged back, and Tafara Gapare cut it to 77-73 with a ranging euro step layup after bringing the ball up the floor following a rebound with 3:57 left. He nearly lost it twice but kept his dribble and finished.

Luis hit two free throws with 2:58 on the clock to cut it back to a one-possession game, 77-75.

UMass trailed 78-75 with 2:19 left after a La Salle timeout. Luis dribbled the ball off a foot in the backcourt, but La Salle turned it right back over. Then Fernandes traveled to hand it to the Explorers once more with 1:46 remaining.

The Minutemen held firm on defense, forcing a Brickus miss, but Daeshon Shepherd grabbed the offensive rebound. La Salle stepped on the end line and gave UMass the ball back with a minute left.

Eventually Luis found Leveque on a roll to the rim, and he made it 78-77 with a thunderous two-handed dunk with 46 seconds left. UMass then forced a shot clock violation when Brickus’ fall away 3 thudded off the backboard.

La Salle didn’t score for the game’s final 2:22, and the Explorers turned the ball over four times in the final 5:06.

“It hurt, letting them back into the game. They’ve got guys that can go. They might not be picked to win the league but they’ve got guys that can really play as you just watched, and when you let those guys get going and you let them get that confidence, they're tough to play against,” Fernandes said. “We kind of had them on the ropes first half and a little bit in the second half. But I think when we gave them that confidence they kind of had it in their mind that they can win the game, and I don't think that was there for most of the game.”

UMass led by as many as nine in the first half. The Minutemen separated with a 6-0 run after Josh Nickleberry sank a layup to bring the Explorers within one at 10-9 at the 15:20 mark. 

Then Dyondre Dominguez and Matt Cross buried back to back 3s for UMass.

The Minutemen didn’t stretch any extended runs out before halftime but built gradually. They out rebounded La Salle 22-16 in the opening frame and grabbed 10 offensive boards. 

The Explorers hit just 3-of-13 3s initially, while UMass drained 6-of-13 and five of its first nine.

Dominguez was assessed a flopping technical foul with 36 seconds remaining after he hit the floor following a 3. Brickus sank a free throw that pulled La Salle within three at 41-38. It was initially announced as a technical then communicated it was not a technical, sewing confusion in the Mullins Center as to why the free throw was shot and remained on the scoreboard. The NCAA changed the rules before this season to remove the flop warning and allow referees to immediately assess a technical. 

Fernandes responded with a 3 10 seconds later that gave UMass a two-score lead at the break.

Cross scored 13 points with nine rebounds, while Luis added 14 points. Dominguez scored 12, and Leveque added 10.

UMass will host Rhode Island at 4:30 p.m. Saturday (NESN-Plus) as part of a doubleheader with the women’s basketball game against Saint Joseph’s (2 p.m. NESN-Plus). 

 Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>