WESTFIELD, Mass. – UMass Dartmouth held off a late Owls run to stay undefeated with an 85-81 victory at the Woodward Center on Thursday, Nov. 18.

The Corsairs improve to 6-0 while Westfield State suffers their first setback of the season at 5-1.

The Owls erased a 17- point second half deficit to pave the way for a thrilling finish in front of a large and energetic crowd. With two minutes left in regulation, back-to-back three pointers from JT Thompson (Columbia S.C./ Dutch Fork) and Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H./ Bradford Christian Academy) trimmed the Corsairs' lead to one, 82-81. A pair of defensive stops by the Owls gave the offense two opportunities to pull out the win but UMass Dartmouth's Jackson Zancan  (Cumberland, R.I./ Cumberland) thwarted the first attempt with a blocked shot and a forced turnover on the second sealed the win.

Jake Ashworth (Fairhaven, Mass./ Bourne) and Marcus Azor (Brockton, Mass./ Brockton) each had 23 points to pace the Corsair offense and the pair combined for three free throws in the final four seconds to ice the game. Azor added 12 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shot on the night.

Westfield State was led offensively by Justin Rennis (Springfield, Mass./ Sabis) who had 17 points, Teng added 15, Jeremy Remigio (Santo Domingo, DR/ Central High School) had 13 and Thompson posted 12. Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./ Worcester Technical) had another spectacular day on the boards grabbing 18 rebounds.

For Umass Dartmouth, Zancan chipped in 16 points and Sean Leahy (Hanson, Mass./ Whitman-Hanson) pulled down seven rebounds in the winning effort.

Westfield scored the first bucket of the game but the Corsairs led for the remainder. UMass Dartmouth shot 45% from the field in the first half compared to Westfield's 33% to gain control early before holding off the Owls down the stretch.

Both teams are idle this weekend and return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 23.The Owls head to Amherst College for a 7:00 p.m. tip while UMass Dartmouth goes to Brandeis for a 5:00 p.m. start.