Feb. 18, 2009

Box Score

Freshman F Isaiah Wallace erupted for 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead American International College over UMass Lowell, 66-55, Wednesday night in a Northeast-10 Conference men’s basketball tilt at the Butova Gymnasium.

The loss halted a three-game winning streak for UMass Lowell, which slipped to 20-5 overall and 15-5 in the NE-10 entering Saturday’s regular season home finale against the University of New Haven (4:00).

The River Hawks remain in second place in the NE-10 standings while Bentley (23-4, 17-3 NE-10) clinched the No. 1 seed for the NE-10 Tournament. Stonehill (19-6, 14-6 NE-10), a 77-59 winner over Pace, sits in third place.

AIC improved to 15-10 overall and 11-9 in the Conference.

Freshman G Kyle Caiola (Parma, OH) led the River Hawks with 22 points and six rebounds while junior G Kevin Carr (Lancaster, OH) added 11 points.

“AIC really played very, very god defense and dictated the game to us tonight,” said UML Head Coach Greg Herenda. “All the credit goes to AIC. It was a battle of two freshmen. Isiah Wallace was sensational and went to the line 21 times tonight. Kyle Caiola played his heart out for us.”

Wallace converted 6 of 11 field goal attempts and 17 of 21 free throws. Freshman G Adrian Hynes-Guery chipped in 10 points and five rebounds, hitting 4 of 7 field goals.

AIC outrebounded UMass Lowell, 45-31 overall and 18-13 on the offensive end, which enabled them to post a 21-2 advantage on second chance points. The advantage buffered the River Hawks 17-9 scoring off turnovers 30-3 lead from 3-point range.

Neither team shot particularly well as UMass Lowell shot .321 (18-56) and AIC .392 (20-51). Led by Wallace, AIC shot 23-32 from the free throw line while the River Hawks shot 9-14.

“We just didn’t score enough to get it done,” Herenda added. “And shooting 32 percent from the floor is not enough to beat a quality team of their ability.”

The Yellow Jackets led 29-24 at the break and opened the second half with a 15-4 run to post a 44-28 lead six minutes into the second half. Wallace led the run with six points while sophomore G Sesoo Ikpah added five.

UMass Lowell countered with 13 straight points – led by treys from sophomore G Max Kerman (Watertown, MA), Caiola and freshman G Robbie Walton (South Boston, MA) – to cut the deficit to 44-41 with 11 minutes left.

AIC, however, scored nine straight points – seven by Wallace – to post a 53-41 lead with 7:33 remaining and never let the River Hawks within seven points the rest of the way.