Box Score

Hartford junior guard Wes Cole got the America East's top 3-point shooting team off to a white-hot start and connected on 10 3-pointers as the Hawks defeated UMass Lowell 69-51 at Chase Family Arena.

The River Hawks (4-13, 3-3 America East) went into the half trailing 38-21 but cut the Hartford (9-11, 3-2 America East) lead down to 12 thanks to a trio of 3-pointers with just over 16 minutes to go but couldn't come any closer as Hartford was dialed in from long-range.

The River Hawks, the conference's top defensive team against 3-pointers couldn't stop the barrage as Hartford connected on 14 of 40 attempts. Cole connected on 10 of his 20 attempts from distance.    

The Hawks started the game on a 9-0 run as Cole connected on his first three attempts from downtown and would go on to set his season-high for points (18) and made three pointers (5) within the first seven minutes of action.

Senior guard Akeem Williams kept the River Hawks in it scoring five of his 10 first half points during a 9-3 run to make a 29-7 game a 32-16 contest. Williams would finish the game with a team-high 21 points and has scored 18 or more points in three of the last four games.

UMass Lowell shot 36.7% from the field while Hartford made 41.9% of their attempts. 14 of the 26 made field goals from Hartford came in the 3-point variety.

Senior Antonio Bivins who is fresh off becoming the latest member of the 1,000 point club in the programs history was second on the team with 10 points.

Hartfords Mark Nwakamma who leads the conference in scoring was limited to just five points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

The loss is the second consecutive for the River Hawks, but just their second in five games. The River Hawks will travel to Maine on Thursday for a 7 P.M. tilt against the Black Bears.