LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) logged a team-high 15 points, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (6-1) continued its hot start with a 73-59 victory against Stonehill (2-6) on Sunday afternoon.
With the decision, the River Hawks are off to their best start in the program's Division I history. Rebounding was key in the outing, taking a 50-29 advantage on the boards, including 19 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second-chance points.
"It was good to get the win and be back home," said Head Coach
Pat Duquette. "Credit to Stonehill, I thought they did a good job of mucking the game up a little bit and disrupting our rhythm. They mixed up their defenses, as well, but I thought we had some great bench contributions."
Mincey, who added eight rebounds, was one of five double-digit scorers for the River Hawks in the contest. Graduate student Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) followed with 14 points, as well as a game-high 14 rebounds, for his third double-double this year. Junior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) sank three threes en route to 11 points, while graduate student Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) and junior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) each added 10 points.
The shot blocking for both sides kept the offense at bay in the opening minutes of the outing, although Hammond started the game off with a three ball, as the River Hawks scored seven of the first nine points. Stonehill was able to take its first lead thanks to eight straight points from Maxwell Zegarowski, but the River Hawks responded back with eight unanswered of their own, including back-to-back threes by Covington and Mincey, to regain the upper hand, 15-10, with 9:59 remaining in the first half.
The Skyhawks worked to cut it to one possession before Coulibaly laid one in to spark a 9-0 stretch that gave the home squad a double-digit margin, 26-15, at 5:43. Despite continued pressure from the visitors and just a four-point buffer in the waning seconds, graduate student Mikey Watkins (Roselle, N.J.) hit a jumper ahead of the buzzer to send the River Hawks into the break with a 37-31 advantage.
Coulibaly drained the first bucket of the second half, but Stonehill quickly used a 9-2 run pull within one. However, the River Hawks retaliated with the next eight points, capped off by a steal turned dunk from Mincey to make the score 49-40 with just over 13 minutes left to go.
Mincey continued to make his presence felt on the floor, stringing together five straight points to ignite a 14-2 stretch to give UMass Lowell its largest lead of the day, 63-46, at 4:35. Stonehill accounted for 11 of the next 14 points to cut the gap back to nine, but a dunk by Brooks and free throws down the stretch secured the win.
The River Hawks will now host local rival Merrimack on Wednesday, November 30 at 6 p.m.
