Brooks Nets 30 as UMass Lowell defeats UMBC, 98-79

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Needless to say, it has been a rough last 10 days for the UMass Lowell River Hawks men’s basketball team. Two gut-wrenching losses to UAlbany and UNH had this team searching for answers as well as taking a good hard look in the mirror. On Thursday night, the team that most people thought they would see showed up at Costello Athletic Center. The River Hawks (16-11, 5-7) led from wire-to-wire in taking down UMBC (12-16, 4-9) 98-79.

Head Coach Pat Duquette thought this was a “great bounce back win.” He said the last few days have been challenging for the team both on and off the court. There is still belief that this River Hawks team can still be good. As Max Brooks said afterwards “We still believe we are the best team in the conference.” But proving that has been a challenge for this team. On Thursday night, they got back to playing the game the way they are capable of. The results speak for themselves.

All five River Hawks starters finished in double-figures led by Max Brooks with his second career game of 30 points. He is now 11 points shy of 1.500 points for his career. Both Quinton Mincy (24 points, 10 rebounds) and Martin Somerville (18 points, 13 assists). Cam Morris III had 12 points and Yuri Covington added 11. The River Hawks scored 48 points in the paint, shot 63.8% from the field (37-of-58), and 55% from 3-point land (11-of-20). They held the lead for 39:38. This was their night and the 691 in attendance were happy to see it.

This game was over in the first two and half minutes of the first half. The River Hawks jump out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back. Somerville was fouled by Marcus Banks and made all three free throws. That was followed by baskets from Morris III in the paint, then back-to-back three’s from Mincy and Somerville. With 17:24 left in the first half, this one was over. The closest UMBC would get in the first half was five at 21-16 on a Marlon Short jumper with 9:22 left in the first half. The biggest UML lead was 14 on three different occasions. The final time on a Brooks layup with three minutes left in the half that made it a 48-34 game. They would go to the break up 52-44. UMBC is now 2-14 when trailing at the half. UML is now 10-4 when leading at the half.

In the first half, the River Hawks made eight 3’s and got a combined 31 points from Mincy (18) and Somerville (13). They were rolling and it continued into the second half. The Retrievers got it down to seven once on a second chance basket by Josh Odunowo (12 points), his 17th double figure game of the year and third in a row. UMass Lowell bounced it up to 24 on three different times in the second half.

UMBC tried everything on the defensive end to slow UMass Lowell down. They trapped off ball screens which Mincy said “We worked on in practice this week.” They tried zone defense, which did not work as the River Hawks were making the extra pass that would lead to easy baskets in the paint. For the first time since league play began, the River Hawks looked like the team that could do some damage come March in the AE postseason tournament.

Before that, the River Hawks have two major challenges ahead of them. On Saturday, they head to Burlington, VT to face the Vermont Catamounts. Patrick Gym has been a house of horrors for them through the years. Next Thursday night, the best team in the league right now, the Bryant College Bulldogs, will be at Costello for an interesting Senior Night battle.

Bryce Johnson had 19 points, his 20th double figure game of the year and his fourth in a row. Louie Jordan had 15 points. His seventh double figure game of the year. UMBC is home to NJIT on Saturday afternoon.