Feb. 27, 2010
Box Score
A balanced attack guided the seventh seeded UMass Lowell River Hawks (17-11, 13-9 NE-10) to a 91-79 victory over 10th seeded Assumption College (13-15, 10-12) on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament at Costello Athletic Center.
With the win, the River Hawks advance to the Quarterfinal, where they will travel to Waltham to play the #2 Falcons of Bentley University at 7:00 on Monday night at the Dana Center.
“I’m very happy to come away with our first tournament win against a very experienced and tough Assumption club,” head coach Greg Herenda said. “Offensively, we played a very good basketball game, but the Greyhounds would never go away and I never expected them to.”
UMass Lowell forced 20 turnovers by the Greyhounds, including 15 in the first, preventing Assumptions’ 48.3% shooting (28-58) from causing too much damage. The River Hawks owned a 10-4 advantage in steals and only committed nine turnovers of their own.
Senior Kevin Carr (Lancaster, OH) drained four three pointers on eight attempts and went a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, finishing the game with 18 points. He also dished three assists and grabbed a pair of rebounds in the victory.
Classmate Ali Kanaan (Montreal, Que.) tallied 17 points and a team-best seven rebounds (four offensive), shooting 5-8 from the floor, including a pair from long range. With three blocks in the game, Kanaan passed Casey Cowburn (’01) to rank second in program history with 143 career blocks.
“Kevin and Ali played excellent basketball games in their last performance at Costello,” Herenda said. “It was arguably Kevin’s best game as a River Hawk and I’m very happy for them and all of our seniors.”
The game opened with a 2-2 tie, but the River Hawks went on a 17-6 run to give themselves a 19-8 lead just over six minutes into the tilt. UMass Lowell built a 20-point advantage with just over four minutes remaining in the first, and headed into the break with a 54-40 lead.
In the second, the Greyhounds chipped away to bring it back within five (76-71) with 5:33 remaining. The River Hawks made their final six free throws down the stretch (four by Carr and a pair by Kyle Caiola (Parma, OH)) to seal the eventual 12-point victory.
Freshman Matt Welch (Lowell, MA) contributed 18 points, as well, in the game, grabbing five boards and dishing a pair of assists. The forward shot 6-9 from the floor and went 2-4 from behind the arc. Sophomore guard Caiola added 16 points, a team-best seven assists and went a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe.
Nearing double figures, junior Max Kerman (Watertown, MA) also contributed nine points, a pair of assists and a steal, while sophomore Robbie Walton (Boston, MA) notched seven points on 3-6 shooting and grabbed four boards and three steals.
“Our offensive balance makes our team hard to guard,” Herenda said. “We just needed to defend a little better and rebound better.”
Assumption owned the 39-33 advantage on the glass, but UMass Lowell capitalized on Assumption’s turnovers by scoring 26 points off the Greyhounds’ mistakes.
Courtland Bluford led Assumption with 23 points, while Ryan Rozsnaki had a team-best nine rebounds and eight assists. Freshman Tim Beinert came off the bench to tally 18 points for Assumption, as well. The Greyhounds finish the 2009-10 campaign with a 13-15 record overall and a 10-12 mark in conference action.
“Now we put ourselves in the position to play against one of the best teams not only in our conference, but in the country on Monday night,” Herenda said. “We are very much looking forward to that game and the challenge.”
