Men's Basketball: Warriors-Corsairs Renew Long-Standing Rivalry

1/6/2026 10:07:00 AM

Team Records:
Eastern: 9-2 (1-1 LEC)
UMD 7-4 (1-1 LEC)

Series History:

This will be the 114^th meeting dating back to 1972/73 between two of the Original Six members of the Little East Conference
UMass Dartmouth holds the all-time series lead, 63-50. The teams had split the two-game regular-season set for eight consecutive seasons before the Warriors won both games last year by two point each, 68-66 at the Tripp Athletic Center and 78-76 in overtime at Geissler Gym
Eastern had won 14 straight in the series beginning in 2009/10 but the Corsairs ended the streak by avenging two regular-season loss with a 60-55 win here in the semifinals of the LEC tournament. The Corsairs outscored Eastern by nine in the second half of that game to erase Eastern's four-point halftime lead
UMD won nine of the first 11 LEC tournament titles. The Corsairs were 28-3 against Eastern in the first 31 LEC meetings between the programs, winning the first six and later 16 in a row.
In Eastern's overtime win here last year, Julian Sanchez sank a three-point buzzer-beater in front of the Eastern bench in OT for the 14^th and final lead change. Eastern had led by ten with six minutes left in regulation, but UMD tied the game a pair of free throws by John Marcille with 29.3 seconds left. Dominic Dao paced five Eastern double-digit scorers with 19 points. Sanchez had 12 points and ten rebounds.UMD returns two of its four double-digit scorers from that game, Eastern four of its five

Game Notes:

UMD is ranked third, Eastern fourth in the LEC pre-season poll
The Corsairs gained the sixth and final LEC tournament spot last year, losing at third-seeded Rhode Island College, 80-64, in the first round
Eastern lost three of its last four LEC regular-season games last year and failed to qualify for the LEC tournament for the second straight year
Eastern and UMass Dartmouth square off in the first of two home-and-home regular-season meetings; the teams meet again in just under a month at Dartmouth, MA
Each team has split their first two LEC games, the host Warriors winning their opener and losing Saturday here against UMass Boston, 83-79; UMD is playing its first LEC game in a month, when it dumped visiting VTSU Castleton, 78-55...
Eastern is 5-1 at home, UMD is 2-4 away from home, where it is unbeaten (5-0)…
Today's opponents rank 1-2 (UMD-Eastern) in the LEC in scoring, both teams averaging over 80 points per game; UMD scored over 100 points in two of its first three games, including 129 at Bridgewater State University Nov. 12
In a rarity, both teams feature five double-figure scorers
Defensively, the Warriors rank first and the Corsairs eighth, with Eastern's +10.8 scoring margin tops in the LEC
The Corsairs are first in the LEC with a team FT percentage of 77.0; UMD's Nic Boyd is the LEC leader in FT percentage, having converted all but one of 25 attempts, with teammate Ryan Flauto third, at 85.0
The home court has proven to be an advantage for both teams recently in this series... Eastern is 7-3 vs. UMD here in the last ten games and 3-7 vs. the Corsairs in the last ten games at the Tripp Center

Upcoming:

Eastern visits four-time defending LEC tournament champion Keene State College (5-6, 2-1 LEC) Thursday and Plymouth State University (4-7, 0-2 LEC) Saturday before returning here to host VTSU Castleton a week from tomorrow... Keene visits Plymouth State tonight

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