LOWELL, Mass. – Graduate student Christian Lutete (Silver Spring, Md.) and junior Obadiah Noel (Frederick, Md.) registered 28 and 25 points, respectively, to lead the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (8-10, 2-1 AE) to a decisive, 85-66 victory against America East opponent Binghamton (7-9, 1-2 AE) on Saturday.
 
"This was a great team win for us," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We played so much better tonight than we did on Wednesday and I thought it started with our defense. It really started with Jordyn Owens. Sessoms is as hard a player to guard as there is in the league and he's torched us in the past. Jordyn kept him out of the lane consistently without fouling, and that was a huge lift for us. Hopefully, if we can bring that defensively every game, we can be a pretty good team."
 
Lutete shot an impressive, 73 percent (11-15) from field, with five buckets from long range. Noel and junior Jordyn Owens (Montclair, N.J.) each added career highs with eight assists. Freshman Ron Mitchell (Philadelphia, Pa.) chipped in with 16 points off the bench, as well. As a team, UMass Lowell shot 56 percent (31-55) from the floor, including 48 percent (10-21) on threes.
 
The River Hawks worked hard on both sides of the ball in the opening minutes, forcing a pair of Bearcat turnovers and building a 15-8 margin with 12:41 remaining in the first half.
 
Binghamton followed with 16 of the next 18 points, though, to pull ahead, 24-17, at 8:47. Noel snapped over four minutes without a field goal for the home team before Mitchell drained a three from the corner to make it a two-possession game. The Bearcats would maintain a four-point edge until Lutete hit a triple to spark a 20-4 run that spanned the remainder of the half and was capped off by long ball at the buzzer by Noel to send the home team into the break up, 44-34.
 
The visitors closed the gap back to six coming out of halftime, but Lutete responded with seven straight points, as part of an 11-2 River Hawk run that stretched the lead to 57-42 with 12:14 still to play.
 
The teams traded baskets and Binghamton was within 12 with just over nine minutes to go, although the River Hawk defense would not let it get any closer, as the squad was able to make a late 9-2 spurt and lead 83-62 at 2:21 en route to the win.
 
UMass Lowell now leads the all-time series, 13-5. The River Hawks are set to hit the road for a three-game road swing beginning on Wednesday, January 15 at Maine. Tipoff for that contest is slated for 7 p.m.