No. 2 River Hawks Come Up Just Short Down Stretch in 66-61 Loss America East Championship at No. 1 Vermont

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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Junior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) registered 17 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth career double-double, as the No. 2 seeded UMass Lowell men’s basketball team (22-10) came up just short, 66-61, in the final minutes of the 2024 Jersey Mike’s America East Playoffs championship game at No. 1 Vermont (28-6) on Saturday afternoon.

The game was a true display of the resilience of the league’s top two teams, featuring 11 lead changes and five tied scores. The River Hawks led at halftime and multiple times in the second half, and although the home team took the lead for good halfway through the second, building up a 10-point margin, the River Hawks never backed down with late buckets from sophomore Brayden O’Connor (Ottawa, Ontario) and senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) making it just a two-possession game.

“I am proud of my guys for having a chance to win in this type of environment, against this good of a team,” said Head Coach Pat Duquette. “When you really don’t shoot the ball well and only make three threes, it’s really a huge testament to our guys’ will. The way they stuck together, battled adversity, kept coming back, time and time again. We were right in the game the whole time, the margin’s thin, Vermont hit two threes at a critical point in the game to give them some separation, and we still came back. We missed some crucial free throws down the stretch, but what an effort by our guys. Vermont’s a great team, they deserve to go to the NCAA Tournament, they played a little better today and earned the home court advantage all season.”

O’Connor finished with 14 points, while Hikim tallied 11. Both added six rebounds, as well, to help lead the River Hawk effort.

Hikim drove to the hoop for the first bucket of the contest, but second-chance threes helped the Catamounts lead by as many as nine in the opening minutes. O’Connor brought the ball up the floor and finished it himself with a turnaround jumper before Morris III went over his shoulder for two to make it a two-possession game, 16-11, with 12:52 remaining in the first half.

The River Hawks then took care of chances at the foul line to help chip away and spark a run of nine straight for the visitors, capped off by the go-ahead bucket from Morris III to give his side its first lead, 20-19, at 7:20. The Catamounts quickly retaliated, but senior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) finished a put-back to set his side back in front less than two minutes later. And although the home team led by four once more in the waning minutes, the River Hawks scored 10 of the last 13 points, including two straight buckets from Morris III to end the period and send the visitors into the break with a 32-29 advantage.

Morris III started the second with the same energy, driving to the hoop for two, but the Catamounts scored six in a row to take a one-point edge. However, senior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) sunk a layup and Mincey drained a three to put the River Hawks up, 39-35, with 17:16 still to go.

The River Hawks remained in front until TJ long floated one in to give the home team a 42-41 edge at 13:06. O’Connor converted at the line to tilt the board back in favor of UMass Lowell, but Vermont followed with five straight points to take the lead for good, 47-43, at 10:47.

O’Connor finished an and-1 to make it a one-point game before a 13-4 Catamount run created the largest buffer of the day at 60-50 with four minutes to play. Hikim went 2-for-2 at the line ahead of an O’Connor triple, which cut the difference in half, but the River Hawks were not able to come any closer in the last minutes.

The 2023-24 season marks the River Hawks second consecutive 20-win season. The team was playing in its third championship in four years. After the game, Morris III and Mincey were named to the America East All-Chmapionship Team, and senior Anthony Blunt (Cownsville, Md.) received the league’s Elite 18 Award for having the highest GPA of any student-athlete competing in the campionship.