Jan. 7, 2012

Box Score

Sophomore F Antonio Bivins (Miami, Fla.) came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points as UMass Lowell defeated Southern Connecticut State, 89-83, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball tilt at the Moore Fieldhouse.

The victory was UMass Lowell's third straight and fifth in its last six games. The River Hawks improved to 9-4 overall and 5-4 in the Conference entering Tuesday's clash at Adelphi (7:30).

The victory was also the 100th career win for head coach Greg Herenda, in his fourth season, who has compiled a 70-34 mark at UMass Lowell.

Southern Connecticut suffered its third straight loss and slipped to 6-7 overall and 4-5 in the NE-10.

"I told our guys that road conference wins are like gold and we had to fight our tails off to beat Southern today," Herenda said.

Bivins converted 11 of 17 field goal attempts as well as both attempts from 3-point range and the free throw line. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

"Antonio was special for us off the bench," Herenda noted. "It seemed like he played at another level tonight and when he does that he is extremely hard to guard."

Sophomore G Akeem Williams (Brockton, Mass.) added 23 points and four rebounds while senior G Dipanjot Singh (Evanston, Ill.) added 20 points and five rebounds off the bench while shooting 8-11 from the floor and 4-4 from 3-point range.

Sophomore G Dominique Langston led Southern Connecticut with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists while sophomore G Greg Langston added 21 points, hitting 8-13 field goals.

Freshman G Luke Houston added 11 points (4-8 FG shooting) while freshman G Tylon Smith chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

UMass Lowell shot .357 (15-42) but found the mark in the second half by shooting .655 (19-29). Southern Connecticut shot .467 in the first half (14-30) and .500 in the second (16-32).

The River Hawks also shot well from long range (8-17) while the Owls struggled to a 7-21 clip.

Led by Bivins and Singh, UMass Lowell outscored the Southern Connecticut bench 46-11.

UMass Lowell led 61-65 midway through the second half and used an 8-3 spurt to post a 73-64 lead with 6:03 left to play, behind a two layups and a blocked shot by Singh.

The River Hawks had an 85-78 lead with 1:05 left to play after a pair of free throws by Williams, but a conventional 3-point play by junior F Trevor Hamlet and a layup by Houston cut the lead to 85-83 with 25 seconds left.

Free throws by Williams and Bivins, with a pair of Owl misfired 3-point attempts, in between, sealed the win for UMass Lowell.

In the first half, Southern Connecticut raced out to a 22-15 lead, but the River Hawks found their touch and posted a 38-37 edge at the break.

"Now we go to New York for a big game against a very good team in Adelphi," Herenda noted.