Box Score (PDF)

LOWELL, Mass. – In a game that was tied on 12 occasions, including inside of the final five minutes, the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (6-6) fell, 76-73, against Central Connecticut State (7-6) on Saturday afternoon.
 
"We didn't shoot the ball well today," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We missed six free throws in the second half and a couple guys that normally contribute offensively just had bad nights. We were pretty good on defense, but we weren't good enough to overcome that. It's encouraging that we had a chance to win despite missing a lot of shots, but we're going to have to play better collectively to put ourselves in a position to win against a very improved Central Connecticut team."
 
Redshirt-senior Jahad Thomas (Williamsport, Pa.) posted a team-high 21 points in the outing. Freshman Obadiah Noel (Frederick, Md.) added to the offense with a personal-best 19 points, while sophomore Rinardo Perry (Washington, D.C.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 13 points. Redshirt-junior Josh Gantz (Grove City, Ohio) and sophomore Stefan Borovac (Stoney Creek, Ontario) finished with career highs of eight assists and four steals, respectively, as well.
 
The CCSU offense jumped out to a quick, 7-0 edge in the opening minutes, and although Thomas and Gantz each scored to make it a five-point game on two occasions, a three-pointer by Austin Nehls gave the visitors a double-digit lead at 14-4 with 14:50 remaining in the first half.
 
The River Hawk offense battled back, though, with the help of a trio of steals from Borovac during a 14-6 run that was capped off by back-to-back triples from Noel to cut the difference to 20-18 at 8:24. The Blue Devils maintained the upper hand until UMass Lowell scored nine in a row, including five from Perry, to take their first lead of the day at 30-28 with 3:39 left in the period.
 
CCSU knotted the score twice in the waning minutes, but Gantz knocked down a three and Thomas followed with a layup to send the River Hawks into the break with a 37-34 advantage.
 
The visitors tallied 12 of the first 14 points coming out of halftime to regain the lead, but Noel answered with a pair of buckets to force a 44-44 stalemate with 15:28 left to go. The teams traded baskets through the majority of the second, as the board was even seven more times in the next 10 minutes before the Blue Devils used a pair of free throws and a layup to take the lead for good, 70-67, at 3:30. Thomas put the River Hawks within one with less than a minute to go, although CCSU would hang on for the decision.  
 
Mustafa Jones posted 24 points to lead a CCSU offense that shot 50.0 percent from the floor. Deion Bute finished just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Central Connecticut now owns a 9-3 lead in the all-time series against UMass Lowell. The River Hawks will return to action after the holiday when they wrap up non-conference play at Wisconsin on Saturday, December 30. Tipoff for that game is slated for 3 p.m.