LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Obadiah Noel (Frederick, Md.) recorded 18 points and a season-high four steals, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (4-8, 3-5 AE) faced a 75-58 setback against Hartford (8-5, 5-3 AE) to split the weekend America East series.
 
"I didn't think we were ready to play, unfortunately," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "It's really hard to beat a team on two consecutive days, especially a good team. I thought for the first 10 minutes of the game, we weren't ready to play, we weren't locked in, we had unforced turnovers, and that just changes the whole nature of the game. It gives them way too much confidence in our gym and it's fragile. I just think that was the one thing that was within our control that we just didn't do and it changed the whole tenor of the game."
 
Sophomore Kalil Thomas (New Orleans, La.) joined Noel in double-figures, going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc to set a new career high with 13 points. Redshirt-sophomore Bryce Daley (Pittsfield, Mass.) added six assists, as well.
 
Junior Allin Blunt (Bowie, Md.) knocked down a three from the far corner to open the scoring in the outing, but Hartford quickly build an eight-point advantage. Noel and Daley responded for the home team, though, and got the offense moving with six consecutive points to cut the margin to two, 13-11, with 10:33 remaining in the first half.
 
The visitors pulled away with 10 unanswered before Thomas entered the game and sunk a jumper to break up the spurt. Hartford would then lead by as many as 16 in the half, but graduate student Salif Boudie (Bamako, Mali) sparked a 10-0 run that was capped off by a last chance layup from sophomore Connor Withers (Manassas, Va.) to put the River Hawks right back in it, down just 31-25 at the break.
 
Noel converted on a pair of free throws coming out of halftime to extend his team's scoring stretch, although Hartford followed with an 11-4 run of its own to create a 42-31 buffer with just over 14 minutes left to play.
 
Withers and Noel banked in back-to-back layups, making it a seven-point game, and despite Hartford pulling back ahead by as many as 12 in the next three minutes, the River Hawks continued to fight, using a dunk by freshman Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and a three from Thomas to get back within single-digits, 50-42, at 8:50. However, Hartford would lead by as many as 18 down the stretch to secure the outcome.
 
After four straight home games, the River Hawks will now head back out on the road to take on Binghamton in a pair of matchups next weekend, Saturday-Sunday, January 16-17.