Cross Pours In Career-High 28, UMass Defeated By Davidson 93-78

Team	1	2	F
Davidson	38	55	93
Massachusetts	35	43	78

Davidson

Massachusetts

AMHERST, Mass. – Matt Cross scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 from the field in a 93-78 defeat to Davidson on Saturday afternoon in the Mullins Center. Keon Thompson dished out a career-high 12 assists for the Minutemen (13-10 Overall, 4-7 Atlantic 10) and became just the third different player in the league this season to record 12 or more assists in a game.

Thompson posted six assists in both halves and passed his previous career-high of five assists in the first 17 minutes of action. The freshman's performance marked the first double-digit assist game by a Minuteman this season.

Davidson (13-10 Overall, 4-7 Atlantic 10) shot 56-percent from the field for the game, including a 64-percent second half shooting effort as the Wildcats knocked down 14-of-26 shots from 3-point range. Connor Kochera led the visitors with a game-high 29 points on 7-of-9 from deep while Foster Loyer pitched in 19. The Wildcats shot 6-of-8 from the field to being play and built a 10-point lead at 27-17 with 10 minutes to go.

The Minutemen followed by holding the Wildcats without a field goal for nearly three minutes while forcing Davidson into five turnovers over the next five minutes to help tie it up at 29-29. UMass used an 8-0 run as part of a 12-2 stretch over 5:52 of game time to tie it up for the third and final time of the game.

The Wildcats answered the UMass scoring run with consecutive 3-pointers to help them go back up by four on their way to taking a 38-35 lead into the halftime break. Both teams shot an identical 15-of-31 from the field in the first half with Davidson knocking down 7-of-14 from deep in the opening 20 minutes.

Cross posted 17 of his 28 points in the first half and shot 7-of-9 from the field in the opening stanza. Dyondre Dominguez finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and five rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench while T.J. Weeks Jr. added 10.

Davidson started its second half by making four of its first six shots from beyond the arc to build a 12-point lead at 62-50. The Wildcats knocked down eight consecutive shots from the field to mark their largest advantage of the day at 69-54 with 10:02 remaining.

UMass made a late push with a 7-0 run as part of a 10-2 scoring spurt to make it a 77-70 contest on a Cross layup with just over five minutes to go. Davidson knocked down a pair of free throws the following possession and converted at the rim to stretch it back to a 10-point lead.

The Minutemen head out on the road for their next two games beginning with Fordham on Wednesday night before a Saturday afternoon matchup at La Salle.

For complete coverage of the UMass men's basketball team, follow the Minutemen on Twitter at @UMassMBB, on Instagram and Facebook at @UMassBasketball and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.

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