UMass Lowell Lose At Home To CCSU 76-73

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If you are a fan of the UMass Lowell basketball team, the one stat that would concern you is 0-15 from the field, 0-11 from three-point land. Those are the combined numbers for River Hawks starters Ryan Jones and Matt Harris. Despite the poor outing by both of these players, the River Hawks had a chance in the final minute to pull this game out. However, a steal by Central Connecticut State’s Tyler Kohl took away any chances of that happening as the Blue Devils (7-6) win for the fourth time on the road this season, 76-73 over UMass Lowell (6-6).

Coach Duquette made his list and checked it twice! Here are your starting five for today's matchup against Central Connecticut #AEHoops #UnitedInBlue #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/LOoJndr03W

— UMass Lowell MBB (@RiverHawkMBB) December 23, 2017

After the game, River Hawks Head Coach Pat Duquette said: “his team did not start the game well”. In the opening three to four minutes of the game, the River Hawks lack of aggression put them in an early hole. Central Connecticut State scored the first seven points of the game, with big man Deion Bute (13 points and nine rebounds) scoring four of the seven points.

Meanwhile, the River Hawks shot only 2-9 from the field and 0-5 from behind the arc. It would take them almost three minutes to score their first points on a layup from Jahad Thomas.

The Blue Devils would increase the lead to double-digits on a three-pointer by Austin Nehls (12 points), one of three on the afternoon for him. The Blue Devils had a 14-4 lead with 15 minutes left in first half. It would be the only ten point lead of the entire game.

The River Hawks found some offense by the halfway mark of the first twenty minutes. The spark came from the bench in the name of Obadiah Noel (a career-high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting including 4-for-4 from deep) , the six-four freshman hit back to back three’s as part of a 10-4 run by the home team to get back into the game down two at 20-18 with 8:24 to play first half.

The Blue Devils responded with a 6-0 spurt of their own to push the lead back to eight at 26-18. The River Hawks would then play their best stretch of offensive basketball in the game to take the lead for the first time all day on Saturday.

A 12-2 run, with eight of those points coming from Rinardo Jones who knocked down two three’s and a couple of free throws. He would get some help from the always reliable Thomas (21 points on 8-for-10 shooting). It would give the River Hawks their first lead of the game at 30-28 with 3:39 to play.

UMass Lowell would go to the halftime break with a three-point advantage of 37-34, despite shooting only 41% from the field and getting nothing from two of their key players. If you are a fan of this team you may have been thinking things would get better in the second half.

The Blue Devils would own points in the paint in this one (45-35), and started the second half going in that direction. A layup by Bute, followed by an and one from Mustafa Jones, who had quite a day for himself with 24 points to go along with six rebounds on 11-for-14 from the field. He came into this contest averaging 10 a game. He had that taken care of in the first half alone. The three-point play tied the game at 39-39 with 19 minutes left.

It would stay tight for the rest of the second half with neither team being able to pull away from the other. In a game that featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes, it would come down to who made plays down the stretch in this one.

Central Connecticut would be the ones, from the last tie at 67-67 on a free throw by Mustafa Jones. The Blue Devils would outscore the River Hawks 9-6 to win this one on the road. Leading scorer Tyler Kohl (11 points on 3-for-11 shooting), who struggle for most of the game, came through when it mattered most. He scored five of those nine points in the final four minutes.

The River Hawks had a chance with under a minute to go. A Thomas layup brought them back to within one at 74-73 with 56 seconds to play. Nehls got fouled and made one of two at the line to make the score 75-73 Blue Devils.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, Josh Gantz (career-high nine assists to go along with eight points) was stripped by Kohl who was then fouled by Ryan Jones. Kohl stepped to the line and made one of two to give his team a three-point edge at 76-73.

FINAL- The #RiverHawks fall in dramatic fashion to CCSU, 76-73. Thomas with a 21 point effort while Noel posted a career high 19! #AEHoops #UnitedInBlue #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/DnRMdaa86g

— UMass Lowell MBB (@RiverHawkMBB) December 23, 2017

UMass Lowell had one more shot at it, but a three-point shot at the buzzer by Harris would not fall and the River Hawks walked away with a disappointing loss 76-73.

After the game, Lowell’s leading scorer Obadiah Noel credited his production to taking a lot of shots in practice. He said he felt like he was in rhythm.

One more non-conference game before league play begins next Saturday as the River Hawks are in Madison, Wisconsin to take on the Badgers.