Terrell Vinson led UMass with a career-high 22 points.
SPRINGFIELD – The University of Massachusetts men’s basketball team is finding new ways to give its fans ulcers.
With three buzzer-beating wins already under its belt, the Minutemen added an overtime victory to their resume with a 78-73 win over Elon in front of 3,085 on Saturday at the MassMutual Center behind a career-high 22 points from forward Terrell Vinson.
Multiple times late in the game, it didn’t appear that UMass would need its usual gut-wrenching heroics. The Minutemen took the lead with 16:45 remaining in the half, and had a six-point lead with less than two minutes left. Elon had virtually of all its big men in foul trouble, and looked as though it had run out of gas.
Maybe everyone should have known better.
The Phoenix went on an 8-2 run that culminated in a game-tying 3-pointer from Tanner Samson with eight seconds remaining, set up by the team’s 16th offensive rebound.
On the ensuing possession, Chaz Williams drove to the right side and earned a trip to the free-throw line with 2.2 seconds remaining, but missed both to send the game to overtime.
“I thought the game was over, honestly,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “He’s about as clutch a player as I’ve been around. I was a little shocked that he didn’t make both of them actually, not even just one.”
Instead, there was bonus basketball, where the Minutemen (5-3) were finally able to exert their will once and for all, outscoring the Phoenix (6-4) 12-7 in the extra frame to seal the victory.
Kellogg was happy with the win, but acknowledged that he’d rather not live on the edge.
“We’re a long ways from home,” he said. “We look sloppy at times is really what it comes down to.”
The slop was especially evident on the defensive glass, where UMass allowed Elon to total 20 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points, and continued to struggle on missed free throws.
“The free-throw blockout was just insane,” Kellogg said. “We work on that quite frequently in practice. We’re going to work on it more and more frequently.”
UMass center Sampson Carter gave Elon credit for working hard inside.
“I think their coach emphasized more on just crashing real hard,” Carter said. “I think we lacked today just stepping out and screening out.”
Three-point shooting was again a problem for UMass, which was 3 for 19 (16 percent) from beyond the arc. Jesse Morgan, who appeared to snap out of a shooting slump in last week’s win over Northeastern, went 0 for 4 from 3-point range and didn’t score until overtime.
“The one thing he did today is he played pretty good defense,” Kellogg said. “I just tell him to worry about his defense and his offense will come around.”
The Minutemen were surprised to be in such a tight game considering Elon shot less than 30 percent from the floor while the Minutemen hit 40 percent.
“The whole game I was looking at it and saying ‘How is the game close?’” Vinson said. “I thought we went on a 20-0 run at one time but we were only up two.”
One area in which the Minutemen – and especially Vinson – didn’t struggle was getting to the free-throw line, shooting a season-high 47 free throws and making 31 of them. In fact, 31 alone would have been a season high.
Vinson was 13 of 14 from the stripe.
“I’ve just been practicing my free throws,” he said. “I’ve been in an excellent rhythm and a nice little routine.”
Everything was positive from the free-throw line except for Williams’ misses at the end of regulation, which he said his teammates helped him forget. He went 3 for 4 from the line in overtime over a 43-second stretch, helping extend the Minutemen’s lead to five with less than a minute to go.
“I didn’t worry about the free throws as much once I missed them,” said Williams, who finished the game with 20 points and nine assists. “My teammates just told me to worry about the next play, and there it was.”
And in the end, as there has been four times prior this season, there was a win.
“When it gets to the stretch, I guess we have enough guys to pull games away,” Williams said. “We’re tired of winning like this, but at the same time, a win is a win.”