AMHERST — Zach Lewis opened the game with a four-point play for UMass and closed it by letting the clock run out rather than chasing a record.
In between, he carried the Minutemen to a much-needed win, as they took several weeks worth of offensive frustration out on La Salle and rolled to an 84-71 win Sunday at the Mullins Center.
Lewis finished with 37 points, the most by an Atlantic 10 player this year. He was 9-for-16 from the field, 6-for-9 from 3-point range and 13-for-13 from 3-point range.
UMass coach Derek Kellogg changed his entire starting lineup and his defense, and both moves paid off. He said the red team, the reserves, had been consistently beating the black team, the starters, in practice. So Kellogg started Lewis, C.J. Anderson, Malik Hines, Brison Gresham and Ty Flowers.
In that group, Lewis is clearly the Minutemen’s top scoring option, and he put the team on his shoulders right away. After La Salle’s Pookie Powell opened the game with a 3-pointer, Lewis answered with a four-point play, as his 3-pointer fell through despite being fouled and then made the free throw. Lewis and Powell went back-and-forth throughout the first half.
Powell was especially hot early, making his first five 3-pointers, and finished the half with 17 points. Lewis took the lead in their head-to-head undercard on the final basket of the half when he swished a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left to cap a 12-0 run that put UMass up 40-35 at intermission.
La Salle’s nine first-half 3-pointers masked an otherwise dominant half for UMass (14-15, 4-12 Atlantic 10), as the Minutemen held a small lead despite dominating statistically in most areas.
Powell and the Explorers cooled off after intermission, and unlike in Thursday’s unraveling against George Washington, the Minutemen continued their success. Freshman guard DeJon Jarreau complemented Lewis with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. He made all four 3-pointers to help force La Salle out of the triangle-and-two defense it tried.
Lewis, who was productive for just a half in Thursday’s loss to George Washington, was good throughout Sunday.
“He came out on fire and played unbelievable basketball,” Kellogg said.
UMass led 50-47 with just under 12 minutes left, but an elbow jumper by Chris Baldwin started a 7-0 run that ballooned into a 16-6 surge to put the Minutemen in control for good.
“Coach has been preaching playing the full 40 (mintues),” Lewis said. “Today we definitely did that.”
Powell finished with 24 while B.J. Johnson added 20 for the Explorers. UMass held Jordan Price, who has been a thorn in its side in the past, to just five points, as he struggled against the Minutemen’s three-two zone.
“They played the three-two well, but it’s late in the season and we’ve seen all kinds of zones,” La Salle coach John Gianinni said. “Give them credit, they just outplayed us. The rebounded better than us, they shot better than us and they defended better than us.”
Lewis had the ball and a chance to tie the Mullins Center scoring record of 40 points set by Trey Davis last year. He had the ball in his hands and 37 points in his pocket, but he let the shot clock run out rather than chase the milestone.
“Trey Davis was texting me as it was going to tell him not to shoot,” Kellogg joked. “What’s he going to do, throw another 3 up to get 40? Then you’re showing the other team up. I don’t think we operate that way.”
Lewis said he didn’t care about 40.
“I wasn’t worried about that. I just wanted to win,” Lewis said. “It feels good to win again.”
Jarreau agreed.
“It felt good because we’e been struggling,” Jarreau said. “We actually are a good team. Today we came out with some fire.”
UMass hosts Richmond, Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“I was happy and proud of the guys today,” Kellogg said. “They came with a good attitude. We worked really hard the past few days in practice… We paid more attention to detail. It was good game for us and hopefully a good building block with a good Richmond team coming in here Wednesday.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage