AMHERST — Marcus Banks scored a game-high 26 points and K’Jei Parker added 19 as the UMass men’s basketball team handled Le Moyne, 94-80, Thursday night at the Mullins Center.

“It felt great,” Bank said. “The shots were falling early. I came out aggressive. I had that mindset to be aggressive. Everything was feeling good within the flow of the game.” 

Leonardo Bettiol added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Minutemen (2-1). Danny Carbuccia added 13 points and five assists off the bench.

“He’s a freshman, still trying to figure everything out, but he can play,” Parker said of Carbuccia. “We motivate him and push him and tell him to be himself every day. We all trust him. His confidence continues to go up.”

The Minutemen took control with a 17-0 run that started at the end of the first half and carried into the second. The Dolphins cut the deficit to 43-38 on back-to-back dunks. Bettiol rotated over to help on defense but that freed Isaac Nyakundi inside for a dunk. Deng Garang then stole Bettiol’s inbounds pass finished with a dunk over the Italian to give life to Le Moyne.

The Minutemen responded. 

Carbuccia drove for a layup and Isaiah Placide hit a 3 at the buzzer to end the half. 

“We had gained control of the game at the end of the first half,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “The lead would not have been 10 at halftime if we don’t make those bad plays at the end of the first half. We came out in the second half and continued to pay with the same force defensively, the same discipline defensively.”

UMass then held Le Moyne scoreless through the first five minutes as they built a 60-38 lead.

Banks had five points during the run.

“When it comes down to winning championships and winning ballgames, defense is where we have to take pride,” Bank said. “I feel like that was a key focus at halftime.”

Added Parker, “we tip our hats on defense. Frank Martin is a coach who is relentless on defense. He brings a lot of energy.”

Banks did not practice for three days leading into the game against Albany on Saturday and struggled from the floor. Against Le Moyne, he scored the first five points for UMass and entered halftime with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting with four 3-pointers. He finished the game 9-of-17 with five 3s.

“Physically I felt pretty good,” Banks said. “I had more energy than last game. Better wind. I felt great today.”

The lead grew to 70-46 with just over 12 minutes remaining when Carbuccia hit a 3 at the top of the key.

“I’m happy he played well because he’s had a great summer and a great preseason,” Martin said. “Today he played with a little pep in his step offensively. He always plays hard defensively.”

As strong as the starters played to give UMass the lead, the bench did not help. With the exception of Carbuccia, six reserves entered throughout the game and finished a combined 1-of-10 with three turnovers. Each player finished with a negative plus-minus to the dismay of Martin.

“It was unacceptable,” Martin said. “Like I told the team in the locker room, winning is really really difficult. It’s hard for me as a coach to be happy when we won a game, but we didn’t play as a team. Playing as a team means that guys that go in the game do their jobs. It doesn’t mean they have great stats, they do their jobs. The guys off the bench today didn’t do their jobs.”

The Minutemen lost Daniel Hankins-Sanford (eight points, four rebounds, two blocks) with about eight minutes left. Hankins-Sanford took a hit to the face and fell on the endline in front of UMass’ bench. 

“In practice, Coach puts in different lineups so we can get used to playing with everyone,” Parker said. “Danny’s a great player for the team, he does a lot, but at the end of the day it’s next man up.”

Martin did not have an official update on his status postgame, but Hankins-Sanford was sitting on the bench.

“He said he got hit in the nose. I got hit with a baseball bat one time,” Martin said. “I actually walked home and went to school the next day.”

Jakai Sanders led Le Moyne (1-3) with 17 points. Trent Mosquera added 15 and Garang had 14.

UMass hosts Central Connecticut State at 2 p.m. on Sunday.