UMass Lowell Beats Dartmouth In Game 2 of Home Stand, 92-83

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Continuing a home stand that began on Wednesday night, the UMass Lowell River Hawks (8-4) used their inside game to take down the Dartmouth Big Green (4-6) 92-83 at Costello Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon. The River Hawks used their size and skill to overpower the Big Green in the paint to the tune of 58-16. In the second half alone, it was 30-4 UMass Lowell. Max Brooks led the way with 26 points on a perfect 12-for-12 from the field. All of his makes were inside of 10 feet. It was his fourth 20+ point game of the season to go along with nine rebounds.

While the inside game is not what they do, Dartmouth’s three-point shooting is a different story. They came into this game averaging 9.9 three-point baskets a game. On Saturday, they made 17-of-36 for 47.2%. It was what not only kept them in the game, it also helped them to a nine-point lead at the half at 44-35. Brooks was asked after the game if it was difficult to identify shooters, and his answer was “They are all shooters.” The first half was an example of what Brooks was saying. The River Hawks were trading three-point shots that Dartmouth was making for two-point shots that the River Hawks were getting. It was a theory that really did not work. The Big Green had the lead for 17:28 seconds and they were 9-of-17 (52.9%) from deep. The main culprit of the hot shooting was freshman guard Connor Amundsen who had 16 first-half points on his way to a career-high 28 points. He was the only Big Green player in double-figures in the first half.

Dartmouth’s best run of the first half was a 10-0 run that gave them their biggest lead of the game to that point at 31-20. Baskets by Brandon Mitchell-Day, a 3-point hoop from Amundsen, followed by a 2-point make, plus free throws from Cameron McMamee had the Big Green in position to win a big non-conference road game. Dartmouth went to the locker room feeling pretty good about themselves. On the other hand, UMass Lowell went to the locker room looking for answers.

As both Brooks and Quincy Clark (11 points, 9 assists) said after the game, “we made adjustments.” Those adjustments led to a 57-point second half for the River Hawks. 30 of those points came in the paint. After shooting just 1-for-10 from 3-point land in the first half, UMass Lowell was 5-of-8 (62.5%) in the second half. They started turning the Big Green over getting 14 points off of Big Green mistakes. UMass Lowell took their first lead of the half on an 8-0 run. Cam Morris III had six points in the run, 10 points for the game. He also had a sweet assist on a Brooks fast break layup. When UML took the lead at 53-52 at the 14:23 mark of the second half, they never gave it back. It was probably their best half of basketball to date.

Dartmouth tried to hang around getting 12 second-half points from Cade Haskins (16 for the game). But the River Hawks shot 77.7% (21-of-27) in the half, 5-of-8 (62.5%) from deep. It was too much offense for Dartmouth’s defense to handle. The Big Green should be given a ton of credit for playing as well as they did, considering they were without their best player Ryan Cornish for undisclosed reasons. The River Hawks got 12 points, 9 in the second half from freshman Martin Somerville. off the bench.

Game three of this home stand comes on Wednesday night when the River Hawks host Stonehill for a 6 PM tipoff.