LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) turned in his first career double-double with a game-high 18 points and a career-high 11 assists to help propel the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (3-1) to a 90-81 victory against Sacred Heart (2-2) on Wednesday.
 
With the decision, the River Hawks finish the in-season tournament, 2-1, against Columbia, Rutgers and Sacred Heart.
 
"It's always good to get a win on your home floor, but we're trying to get somewhere we've never been before," explained Head Coach Pat Duquette. "In order to do that, you have to start building habits, especially on the defensive end, and that's what we're trying to do, so I thought we took a step back tonight, despite the win. Sacred Heart was great, well-coached and played hard with a lot of confidence, but defensively for us to give up 80 is way too many points. If we want to be as good as we're saying we do, we have to get a lot better."
 
Hikim's 11 assists set a new Division I program record, besting a 10-assist performance by Ryan Jones in 2018. Graduate student Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) added 16 points, while graduate students Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) and Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) chipped in with 15 and 13, respectively, and junior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points. As a team, the River Hawks shot 50.7% (34-67) from the field.
 
The teams traded buckets on either end of the court in the opening minutes before Coulibaly finished a one-handed jam on an inbound pass to give his team an early, two-possession buffer. The Pioneers were able to stay within four until the home team rattled off eight in a row, including a dunk by junior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) that created a 19-10 advantage with 11:45 remaining in the first half.
 
A SHU three ball broke up the run, but junior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) and graduate student Mikey Watkins (Roselle, N.J.) quickly retaliated with back-to-back baskets to give the River Hawks their first double-digit edge of the contest, 23-13, at 10:08. Late in the half, Mincey added a boost off the bench, recording eight straight points for the home team to give the squad its largest lead, 40-24, with 5:36 left before the break. However, the Pioneers ended the period on a 14-3 run, cutting the difference to 43-38 heading into halftime.
 
Sacred Heart pulled within four to start the second, but Hammond answered with a three from the far corner. The visitors would knot the score at 53-53, though, before the River Hawks put together an 8-2 spurt that was capped off by a jumper from Covington to give his side some breathing room at 61-55 with 13:06 left to play.
 
Although the Pioneers worked to close the gap to just one on three occasions, UMass Lowell used a 15-2 run to pull away down the stretch and lead, 78-64, with less than six minutes to go.