LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's basketball team (5-3) battled back to within four inside of the final minute and a half, but free throws proved to be the difference in a 73-63 decision for Brown (6-4) on Wednesday evening in front of a near sellout crowd at Costello Athletic Center.
 
Sophomore Anthony Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) forced a steal that allowed classmate Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) to finish an and-1 that put the River Hawks within 65-61 at 1:18, but eight Brown free throws helped the visitors hold on to secure the outcome.
 
"This was a tough loss for us today, but we made it interesting at the end, which was great" said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We showed some fight and came back, and really put some pressure on Brown in a game that I thought was out of our hands. I thought we played good in the first half. We didn't shoot the ball well, but we had open shots, really spaced the floor, and created good looks for ourselves. I just thought coming out in the second half we didn't play quite as well offensively, and we hit some adversity and made some uncharacteristic turnovers."
 
Hikim paced three double-digit scorers for the River Hawks with 17 points. Graduate student John Hall (Philadelphia, Pa.) registered a season-high 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Senior Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) added 12 points, while graduate student Justin Faison (Prince George's County, Md.) totaled three steals.
 
Four points and a pair of early blocks from sophomore Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) gave the River Hawks an early, two-possession lead. The Bears cut the difference to just two, but an offensive board and a fight to the bucket by Hall put the home team ahead, 14-8, with 13:07 remaining in the first half.
 
Brown followed with a string of 10 unanswered points to take its first lead of the night, 18-14, at 10:09. The visitors would maintain the upper hand until Hikim scored four straight points to spark an 8-0 stretch that put the River Hawks back on top, 26-23, with just over four minutes to go in the opening frame. However, the Bears scored 10 of the final 12 points before the break to lead, 33-28, heading into the locker room.
 
The visitors knocked down back-to-back threes en route to the first nine points of the second, extending their margin to double-digits. Brooks and Hikim responded with a spark to the River Hawk offense, closing the gap to 44-34 with 13:55 left to play.
 
Five minutes later, Hall drained a three from the corner to put his squad back within 10, and although the Bears worked to widen the buffer as far as 15, sophomore Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) completed a three-point play and Hikim laid one in on the fast-break to make it 61-51 at 2:55.
 
The River Hawks now head back out on the road for a pair of games beginning at Merrimack on Saturday, December 4 at 7 p.m.