
After a tough loss on Thursday night to Vermont. The UMass Lowell Men’s basketball team got right back to work on Saturday afternoon at Costello Athletic Center hosting NJIT. A game of two halves took place, even though the River Hawks (13-5, 2-1) never gave up the lead. The Highlanders (3-14, 0-2) put up quite a fight, especially in the second half. They were playing without the league’s leading scorer Tariq Frances, who averages 18.9 a game. Fortunately for the home team, it was not enough as the River Hawks took a 70-62 victory.
The game began with an interesting move by River Hawks head coach Pat Duquette. A lineup change saw freshman Martin Somerville make his first collegiate start. He replaced Quinton Mincy who went back to being what he thrived at last season. That of the sixth man role. When asked after the game about the switch, the coach said it was “personnel stuff.” He did not think it was a big deal. Somerville would make the move pay off as he was the team’s leading scorer for the second straight game with 26 points, and 6 assists on 7-of-12 shooting including 5-of-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line. Somerville now has four twenty-point games to his credit on the year.
The other big contributor was 5th-year senior Max Brooks who recorded his sixth double-double of the season of 16 points, 14 rebounds, and five block shots. Brooks now has 20 career double-doubles. The first half belonged to the River Hawks. They shot 61.9% (13-of-21) and Somerville was red hot shooting 4-of-4 from the field, 3-of-3 from deep, and 3-of-3 from the line. Brooks was giving him plenty of help going 5-of-7 from the field, and 1-of-2 from the line. The two combined to score 26 of the team’s 39 first-half points. The best moments for the Highlanders in the first half were two big-time dunks by Tim Moore Jr (14 points, 8 rebounds). The first was a poster dunk over Brooks that came with 6:54 left in the half and the second one came with 2:37 left in the half. The River Hawks spent the final ten minutes of the first half with a double-digit lead and went to the locker room with a 39-26 lead.
The second half was a different story altogether. It can be debated whether UMass Lowell took their foot off the gas pedal or not. The result was a second half that ended way too close. Part of the reason was the play of Sebastian Robinson who scored 21 points, five more than his average of 16. After shooting 2-of-11 in the first half, he was 8-of-15, and 1-of-2 from deep for 17 points. His output helped the Highlanders to a 36-point second half on 14-of-30 shooting, 3-of-9 from deep and 5-of-9 from the line. After the game, Coach Duquette said “It was not pretty, we did not play great” and he was not kidding. A 6-0 Highlander run got them under down ten with 9:51 to go. Robinson had four of those points. Another run of 7-0 by NJIT made it a one-score game at 57-54 with 3:51 left. Ari Fulton (10 points, 13 boards, 2nd double-double of the season) hit three free throws, another 3-pointer from Robinson, and a FT from Moore had the crowd of 535 restless.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Somerville and Quinton Mincy followed by a Cam Morris III dunk (11 points) finally put the game in the win column for the River Hawks at 70-62. Brooks was asked about the second half. He said, “We got away from what got us the lead.” The Highlanders outscored the River Hawks in the paint (32-22) off the bench (15-7) and on second-chance points (15-8).
UMass Lowell get a week to prepare for their next game which is next Saturday on the road at a tough place to play for the visitors, Bryant College.
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