River Hawks Fall, 83-75, in Season Opener at Massachusetts

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River Hawks Fall, 83-75

AMHERST, Mass. – Freshman Joey Glynn (Portsmouth, N.H.) led four double-digit scorers with a team-high 18 points in his first career game, as the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team (0-1) fell, 83-75, at Massachusetts (1-0) in the 2018-19 season opener on Tuesday evening.

“Despite the outcome, I’m pretty pleased with our effort and the contributions from a lot of new guys in their first college basketball game,” said Head Coach Pat Duquette. “I thought there was only one or two moments midway through the second where we made some careless mistakes and that’s when they were able to stretch their lead, but before that, we played within ourselves.”

Glynn’s performance ties a Division I program record for points in a collegiate debut. Also making his first appearance with the River Hawks, redshirt-junior Christian Lutete (Silver Spring, Md.) added 17 points and a team-best 11 rebound, while redshirt-senior Josh Gantz (Grove City, Ohio) and sophomore Obadiah Noel (Frederick, Md.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

Redshirt-junior Connor Bennett (Wilmington, Mass.) hit a pull-up jumper from just inside the arc to tally the River Hawks’ first points of the new season. Although the Minutemen led by as many as five in the opening minutes of the contest, Noel drained a three and Gantz made the most of his chance at the line after being fouled in three-point territory to give the visitors their only lead of the night, 19-18, with 12:19 remaining in the first.

Massachusetts regained the upper hand, but the visitors would stay within seven until the Minutemen pulled away with their largest lead of the half, 34-25, at 5:59. However, the River Hawks battled back, as freshman Darius Henderson(Pasadena, Calif.) sparked nine straight points for his squad, erasing the difference and knotting the score for the fifth time at 34-34 with 4:34 left in the period. The home squad would outscore UMass Lowell, 8-5, in the waning minutes, though, to take a slight, 42-39 edge into the break.

Coming out of halftime, Lutete drove to the hoop to make it a one-point game. The teams traded buckets and the River Hawks were within one on three more occasions, including at 49-48 with 16:08 to go.

A 17-6 run later in the half would be the difference, allowing the Minutemen to take their only double-digit lead of the game, 73-57, with just over six minutes left to play. Gantz and Noel combined for three threes in the final minutes to cut the deficit back to two possessions, but the home team held on for the 83-75 outcome.

Massachusetts now owns a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series. The River Hawks will play their 2018-19 home opener on Saturday, November 10 when they host Wagner at 1 p.m.