DURHAM, N.H. – Down by as many as 16, the No. 6 seeded UMass Lowell men's basketball team (9-11) turned in an impressive, second-half performance on both sides of the ball to defeat No. 7 Stony Brook (9-14), 64-62, in the first round of the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs on Saturday in Durham.
 
The performance not only marks the team's first ever post-season victory at the Division I level, but its largest second-half comeback, as well. Additionally, the River Hawk defense held the Seawolves to just 19 points in the second, good for a new record this season.
 
"This was such an exciting win for our team," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "Especially in this year, to even get this far, nobody knew how the season was going to progress, and we had so many challenges, ups and downs. But I always felt like we were in a good place heading into the playoffs."
 
Stony Brook, who led for almost 30 minutes thanks to 67% (8-12) shooting from three-point range in the first half, led for the final time with less than a minute to go in regulation before junior Allin Blunt (Bowie, Md.) tied the game at 62-62 with a pair of crucial free throws. The River Hawks then forced a big turnover and got the ball to senior captain Obadiah Noel (Frederick, Md.) for what would be the game-winning layup with five seconds on the clock.
 
"Today we got off to a rough start," added Duquette. "(Juan Felix) Rodriguez had the hot hand and we didn't do enough to make him feel uncomfortable. And usually that wins the game, when a kid comes in and hits six threes, so that's why I was so happy to see how my guys battled back in tough circumstances. We held them to 19 points in the second half and that's how you're going to win playoff basketball games. Great job in the defensive end in the second half."
 
Noel paced UMass Lowell with 23 points, while sophomore Kalil Thomas (New Orleans, La.) chipped in with 15 and classmate Connor Withers (Manassas, Va.) added 11.
 
Graduate student Salif Boudie (Bamako, Mali) scored the first points of the game, but the Seawolves followed with nine of the next 11 to build an early advantage. And although Withers answered with the first three of the day for the River Hawks, SBU continued to rely on the long ball, putting together a 10-2 run to take its first double-digit lead at 19-9 with 10:45 remaining in the first half.
 
UMass Lowell was able to cut the difference to eight on three occasions in the period until the Seawolves used a 9-1 spurt to take their largest lead, 38-22, at 2:22. And despite a triple from Thomas down the stretch, the River Hawks would head into the locker room down, 43-29.
 
The River Hawks changed the momentum entirely coming out of halftime, putting together a 25-5 run in the first 12 minutes to pull ahead, 54-49. Layups from freshman Anthony Blunt (Bowie, Md.) and Thomas stretched UMass Lowell's lead as far as seven before SBU responded with nine in a row to regain the upper hand inside the final two minutes and force the last-second heroics from Noel.
 
UMass Lowell now advances to the quarterfinals tomorrow, Sunday, February 28, when they will square off against No. 3 New Hampshire at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.