Nov. 15, 2009

Box Score Five River Hawks scored in double digits, led by sophomore guard Kyle Caiola (Parma, OH), who compiled 26 points, 11 assists and four steals to lead UMass Lowell over Mercy College, 110-72, Sunday afternoon in a non-conference men's basketball clash at the Costello Athletic Center.

"Obviously I am very pleased with our first victory this season," head coach Greg Herenda said. "Usually our defense is far ahead of our offense, but that was not the case tonight. I was happy with how we shared the basketball. To score 110 points is not an easy thing to do."

Caiola, who matched his career-high in points, was among several River Hawks with stellar efforts on the day, as he converted 10 of 11 field goal attempts, including three from 3-point range.

"Kyle had nearly a perfect game for us," Herenda said. "He looked really good."

Freshman forward Romeo Diaz (Methuen, MA) added 21 points and 10 rebounds as he hit 9 of 10 field goals while senior guard Kevin Carr (Lancaster, OH) scored 18 points and dished four assists while shooting 7 for 12 from the field and 4 for 9 from long range.

"I was very happy with Romeo's debut," Herenda said of Diaz. "He had a great week of practice, so he got what he deserved today."

Senior center Kingsley Onyechi (Lowell, MA) also enjoyed a splendid debut as he registered 17 points and five rebounds (20 minutes) while converting 6 of 9 field goals. Freshman guard Scotty Tavares-Taylor (Boston, MA) chipped in 11 points, hitting 4 of 7 field goals.

"I thought for Kingsley's first game back [since February 2008 at New England College], he played very well," Herenda said. "Scoring 17 points to get his feet wet was great for us."

Senior guard Craig Heatherly (Mishawaka, IN) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and dished six assists in addition to seven points on the afternoon.

UMass Lowell shot a collective .632 from the field (43-68) opposed to Mercy's .429 (21-49) and outrebounded the Mavericks 44-17, including 15-2 offensively. The River Hawks committed 13 turnovers while Mercy had 19, enabling for UMass Lowell's 16-6 edge on steals.

"I've got to tip my hat to Mercy," Herenda said. "They had strong offense in the first half but we got back to good defensive basketball in the second. We held them to .320 [8-25 FGs] in the second half and that's typical of where we need to be."

Junior guard Hassan Powell (Bridgeport, CT) and freshman guard Tyler Jones (Montclair, NJ) each scored 20 points to lead the Mavericks. Powell converted 7 of 14 field goals and dished seven assists while Jones converted 4 of 7 attempts from 3-point range and converted all eight free throws.

Freshman guard Bryan Van Cott (Oyster Bay, NY) added 11 points on 4-6 shooting while junior guard Manny Garcia (Bronx, NY) also chipped in 11 points (4-8 FGs).

The game marked the first time since Feb. 4, 2004 that the River Hawks broke the 100-point barrier (104-73 win over Bentley). It was also the highest-scoring performance by UMass Lowell since the program's all-time highest-scoring game (133-129 win over Assumption) on Jan. 4, 1995.

With the victory, the River Hawks stand at 1-0 entering Wednesday night's Northeast-10 Conference opener at Saint Michael's at 7:30 p.m. and Mercy slipped to 0-1. The Mavericks will take on East Stroudsburg at the Shippensburg Tournament Friday at 5:00 p.m.