Jan. 9, 2010
Box Score
In a game that saw ten lead changes and six tied scores, the UMass Lowell River Hawks took firm command of the final ten minutes of play to defeat the New Haven Chargers, 67-48, at home on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference play.
With the victory, UMass Lowell’s fourth in a row, the River Hawks improve to 10-3 on the year with a 7-2 mark in league play. The Chargers fall to 1-12 on the year and own a 1-8 record in conference action.
Four River Hawks finished the night in double figures, led by Kyle Caiola’s (Parma, OH) 24 points. The sophomore guard also had three steals and five boards. Caiola went 8-for-12 from the floor including a pair of treys. Leading UMass Lowell on the glass was center Kingsley Onyechi (Lowell, MA), who grabbed seven boards in addition to his ten points and pair of blocks.
Senior classmates Kevin Carr (Lancaster, OH) and Ali Kanaan (Montreal, Que.) tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. Carr hit a pair of threes and grabbed three rebounds, while Kanaan went 5-for-7 from the floor, sank a three and grabbed five boards. He added a steal and an assist in the game, as well.
“That was a very hard-fought win against a team that hasn’t been winning a lot of games, but has played very good basketball,” head coach Greg Herenda said. “New Haven played a great game, took us out of our offense and really dominated the first half. We were lucky to be tied at halftime.”
Carr hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to finish the first half, tying the game at 31 apiece. Each squad went on runs of their own to swing the lead at the start of the second, as UMass Lowell went up by eight with 13:36 to go in the game, before the Chargers came back to tie the game at 44, three minutes later.
New Haven took a short-lived, one point lead at 8:34 when Darryl Greene hit a three-pointer to make it a 47-46 game. That shot proved to be the Chargers’ final field goal of the night, as UMass Lowell then went on a 21-1 run to finish the game.
“In the second half, we started executing our offensive sets and I think that Ali’s dunk on our out of bounds play really got us going,” Herenda said. “We played an almost flawless 7-8 minutes of basketball once we found our rhythm.”
The final stretch was highlighted by a three-point play by Caiola, Kanaan’s dunk and long-range shot and three assists by Craig Heatherly (Mishawaka, IN). Heatherly finished the night with seven points, five assists, four boards and a pair of steals.
UMass Lowell, the best free throw shooting team in the nation, was a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe on the afternoon and shot 53.8% from the floor in the second (14-26), holding its opponent to 30.0% in the final 20 minutes of play (6-20). UMass Lowell also outrebounded the Chargers, 33-23 and had 16 turnovers compared to New Haven’s 20.
The River Hawks stole the ball 14 times, six more than the Chargers’ eight steals. UMass Lowell owned the 24-14 advantage on points in the paint and outscored its opponent 10-2 on second chance opportunities. Despite being tied at the half, UMass Lowell took command and outscored New Haven 36-17 in the second half.
New Haven was led by Cassius Chaney and Greene, who each notched 11 points. Chaney, the NE-10’s seventh leading scorer, came into the game averaging 19.7 PPG and 9.9 boards, but was shut down by UMass Lowell’s defensive efforts.
“Max Kerman (Watertown, MA) didn’t score one point for us tonight, but was incredibly valuable to us on defense when we were struggling,” Herenda said of his captain, who finished the game with four steals and a pair of rebounds. “He did a fantastic job on Chaney, who is one of the league’s leading scorers."
The River Hawks will next take the court on Tuesday, Jan. 12 when they head to Garden City, NY to take on the Panthers of Adelphi University for a 7:30 p.m. tilt.
