Sophomore G Scotty Tavares Taylor (Roxbury, Mass.) scored a season-high 20 points to lead UMass Lowell over Pace University, 74-60, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball clash at the Costello Athletic Center.

The win was UMass Lowell's fourth in five games as it improved to 10-5 overall and 6-5 in the NE-10 entering Tuesday's home game against Le Moyne (7:30).

Pace slipped to 8-7 overall and 6-5 in the Conference.

Tavares-Taylor converted 4 of 7 field goals, 2-2 from 3-point range, and 10-11 free throws and also grabbed four rebounds and dished two assists. Junior F Matt Welch (Lowell, Mass.) chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds while shooting 6-11 from the floor.

Senior G Dipanjot Singh (Evanston, Ill.) came off the bench to score 15 points and grab eight rebounds.

The win marked the third time in four games that UMass Lowell held an opponent to 61 points or less.

"If we continue to defend this consistently, we will win a lot of games down the stretch," said head coach Greg Herenda.

"Scotty played as complete a game as a point guard could," Herenda noted. "He guarded great, made big shots and made every free throw for us. On top of all that, John Corbacio (five points, one rebounds, 11 minutes) gave us a huge lift off the bench with a big dunk and a huge three."

Junior F Keon Williams led Pace with 22 points and eight rebounds and he shot 6-12 from the field and 10-14 from the free throw line. Sophomore G Denzel Primus-Devonish chipped in 10 points and five steals.

UMass Lowell shot .500 from the floor in the first half (14-28) and led 35-24 at the break, which it would never relinquish. The River Hawks opened the second half with a 13-7 spurt to post a 48-31 lead, led by a trey and two free throws by Singh.

Pace drew as close as 10 points (55-45) with 9:25 left to play, but could muster no closer. UMass Lowell, which shot 16-20 from the free throw line, converted eight straight free throws over the final two minutes, including six by Tavares-Taylor, to preserve the win.

Led by Singh, UMass Lowell outscored the Pace bench 24-14 and also built a 32-24 advantage in the paint.