Massachusetts Men’s Basketball Grits Out 85-82 Win At Western Michigan

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – After the lead changed 14 times in the first, University of Massachusetts men's basketball never trailed coming out of halftime in an 85-82 victory at Western Michigan on Tuesday evening.

Marcus Banks Jr., led the Minutemen with 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field, 5-for-12 from three, while graduate student Leonardo Bettiol followed with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting, aided by a 7-for-7 night at the free throw line. Bettiol also corralled eight rebounds, a game high.

K'Jei Parker also reached double figures, scoring 20 on 6-for-11 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Danny Carbuccia tallied a game-high nine assists on the night and added three steals.

For Western Michgian, Justice Williams put up a game-best 29 points, with EJ Ryans and Brady Swartz following behind with12 points each. Williams and Swartz had five rebounds apiece, as Declan Peterson led with six. Sharod Barnes had a team-high four assists for the Broncos.

How It Happened

Danny Carbuccia, Leonardo Bettiol, Marcus Banks Jr., Daniel Hankins-Sanford and Jayden Ndjigue started for the Minutemen.
A foul by Western Michigan with no time on the clock sent Banks Jr., to the line as he made one-of-two to help the Minutemen hold on to an 85-82 victory.
Parker hit his pair of free throws to extend UMass' lead to 84-80, but a layup from Western Michigan brought the game back within two.
Massachusetts held a two-point lead at 82-80 as Swartz of Western Michigan drove to the basket.
Bettiol knocked down his two shots from the charity stripe with 23 seconds in the half to lead 82-78.
The Broncos made it a two-point game after hitting two free throws with 44 seconds left in the contest.
A layup from Bettiol at the 1:25 mark kept the Minutemen ahead, 80-76.
At 2:48, Damjanac made a pair of free throws to extend UMass' lead to 78-74.
Western Michigan was sent to the line at 3:11, as Brady Swartz hit both shots to trail UMass, 76-74.
Bettiol hit a pair of free throws, before adding five more points to put Massachusetts ahead by four, 76-72, at the 3:38 mark.
Western Michigan came back within two with a pair of triples from EJ Ryans with 6:39 remaining.
UMass maintained the lead, 66-58, at 7:31 of the second with a Dwayne Wimbley Jr., layup.
Western Michigan closed the gap to four at 60-56 with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws made at the 9:27 mark.
A free throw from Hankins-Sanford and a layup by Damjanac pushed UMass ahead 60-51 with 10:51 left in the second.
The Broncos knocked down four straight three-pointers to make it a 57-49 contest at the 12:44 mark.
Banks Jr., made it a 53-37 game with a stepback three-point jumper at 14:39.
Isaiah Placide knocked down a triple to provide Massachusetts with a 15-point lead, 50-35, at the 15:25 mark.
UMass opened the second half with an 11-0 run at 16:23, with Banks Jr., scoring 10 of the Minutemen's points.
The two teams traded points, as Dwayne Wimbley Jr., slammed a dunk on the fast break with five seconds left, ending the first half with a Minutemen lead of 36-35.
In a back-and-forth half, Parker made his fourth three-pointer in response to Justice Williams' three of Western Michigan, to put Massachusetts ahead, 34-33.
After Western Michigan took a brief 30-29 lead, Parker got sent to the charity stripe to put UMass back in the lead at 31-30 with 2:35 remaining in the half.
At 4:16, Luka Damjanac tipped in a second-chance layup to pull UMass ahead by three, 29-26.
Bettiol answered with six-straight points, which included a layup and a jumper, to regain the lead for the Minutemen, 27-24, with 5:52 left.
Another 6-0 run for the Broncos gave them the 24-21 lead at 7:50 of the first.
Parker hit his third three-pointer of the first half to log his 11th point to give UMass a 21-18 lead at the 11:11 mark.
A pair of free throws for Western Michigan tied the game at 18-18 with 11:43 left in the first half.
With the Broncos leading 14-10, K'Jei Parker scored eight straight points, including back-to-back threes to reclaim the lead at 18-16 at 12:06.
The Broncos made a three-pointer to take a 9-7 lead, but Banks Jr., responded with a triple of his own to give Massachusetts a one-point lead at 15:06.
Western Michigan took a 6-3 lead a with a quick 6-0 run at the 16:51 mark.
Banks Jr., knocked down a three-pointer 40 seconds into the game to give UMass a 3-0 lead.

Numbers To Know

19: UMass dished out 19 assists.
16: K'Jei Parker put up 16 points alone in the first half, going 5-for-8 from the field and 4-of-5 beyond the arc.
16: Marcus Banks Jr., scored 16 points alone in the second half, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from the three-point arc.
14: There were 14 lead changes in the first half.
10: Banks Jr., opened the second half with 10 consecutive points.
3: Three Minutemen reached doubles figures: Marcus Banks Jr. (22), Leonardo Bettiol (21) and K'Jei Parker (20).

Up Next

The Minutemen continue on the road with a 3 p.m., contest at Northern Illinois on Saturday, January 17, in DeKalb, Illinois.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

Scoreboard