The Minutemen picked up their fourth straight win Saturday behind Chaz Williams' 26 points.
AMHERST – In a game of runs Saturday, the University of Massachusetts basketball team simply ended up with more of them.
The Minutemen used two separate blitzes to build a 19-point second-half lead, then held on down the stretch for an 88-81 victory over East Carolina in front of 4,123 at the Mullins Center.
“It’s a great step for us,” UMass point guard Chaz Williams said. “We’re taking steps in a positive direction. We’re all coming together to play as one. I think everybody is starting to see that.”
UMass (7-3) jumped out to a 14-0 lead just 4:19 in behind four points from Williams, who finished with 26 and tied a career high with 11 assists. Jesse Morgan, the hero of Wednesday’s win over Ohio, had five points in the initial run and finished with 15.
As they did all afternoon, however, the Pirates fought back, using a 21-11 run over the final 6:10 of the first half to cut a 16-point UMass lead to 42-36 at halftime.
The Pirates got within three 4:05 after the break, but they fell victim to what is coming to be known as UMass’ “run lineup” of Williams, Morgan, Freddie Riley, Maxie Esho and Cady Lalanne. Those five ripped off a 16-0 run, paced by six more from Williams, and opened up a 19-point lead with 11:40 to play.
The Minutemen still held a 72-53 advantage with 6:23 to go, and the game appeared to be well under control, but double-digit victories with no late-game stress haven’t been part of UMass' modus operandi.
That didn’t change Saturday.
The Pirates used a ferocious press to roar back with a 24-8 run, paced by nine of forward Maurice Kemp’s team-high 21 points, and closed the gap to 80-77 with 1:04 to play.
“I was very frustrated,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “You have to just close the game out.”
The press came as a surprise to the Minutemen, whom Kellogg said hadn’t totally prepared for what they saw from the Pirates toward the end.
“I’ll take some responsibility on a couple things. We haven’t really worked on a press attack.” Kellogg said. “We kind of slowed down a little bit instead of attacking the press. (East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo) did a good job trying to get them back in the game any way they could.”
But Williams, who had struggled this season from the free-throw line at just 66 percent, put his woes behind him by making eight straight in the final 55 seconds to secure UMass’ fourth consecutive victory.
Williams finished 15 for 16 from the line, upping his percentage to 72 in just one game and setting a career high in makes.
“I’ve always been a pretty good free-throw shooter my whole life, my whole career, so it was unusual for me to be missing free throws when I was,” Williams said. “I just got in the gym and put in extra work on my free throws and they went down today.”
Williams' 26 points were 3 shy of his career high of 29. The point guard was forced to play all 40 minutes while his backup, Trey Davis, sat out after tweaking his left ankle in practice Friday.
Terrell Vinson had 15 points and Riley added a season-high 14 to give UMass four double-digit scorers Saturday.
The Minutemen now head home for the holiday, the team’s next practice Dec. 26 and its next game Dec. 29 at Northern Illinois.
“It’ll be nice to take a break and let the guys go see their families for a couple of days,” Kellogg said. “To come away with a win when some guys might be thinking, ‘Shoot, if it goes to overtime, I’m missing my flight,’ is good.”