LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) set a new personal best with 21 points, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (12-2) battled to a physical, 68-60 victory against in-state foe Boston University (7-6) on Wednesday afternoon.
 
The game went back-and-forth the majority of the way with 10 lead changes and six tied scores, including at 55-55 for the last time, before Coulibaly gave the River Hawks the lead for good, as the home team outscored their opponent, 13-5, in the final five minutes.
 
"That was a tough game," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "Both teams fought hard, executed and defended. I have a lot of respect for BU and Joe Jones, and they are even better than I thought coming into the game. They gave us all we could handle on our home floor. The game plan for the second half was to get (Abdoul) a little more involved and obviously that worked. Nobody on our team cares who scored. We have to know our advantages and get the ball to the people we can play off of, and that's different every game."
 
Coulibaly shot an impressive 75% from the floor with a career-high nine field goals. He added 11 rebounds on the night for his fifth double-double of the year. Junior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) added nine points, while senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) tallied eight.
 
Coulibaly started the game strong, turning back-to-back steals into buckets in the opening minutes. The big man added another early layup, and although a Terrier triple knotted the score for the first time, graduate student Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) drove to the hoop for two and Covington followed with a three to put the home team on top, 13-8, with 13:50 remaining in the first half.
 
BU battled back to even the score twice before a long ball by Ethan Brittain-Watts sparked eight unanswered to give the visitors their first lead of the contest, 23-17, at 8:36. The River Hawks got right back to work, though, as baskets from junior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Hikim made it a one-possession game ahead of an open three from senior Connor Withers (Manassas, Va.) that put his squad back in front, 24-23, at 6:39. Both teams continued to fight for an advantage and were even twice more until the Terriers recorded the final four points of the half to take a 30-28 edge into the break.
 
Consecutive baskets from junior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and Coulibaly put the River Hawks back on top to start the second. However, the back-and-forth tilt continued with four more lead changes in the first six minutes before Coulibaly sparked an 8-0 run that created a 45-38 margin for UMass Lowell with 11:40 to go.
 
The home team maintained at least a five-point buffer until Walter Whyte scored five in a row for BU to close the gap to 49-47 at 7:47. Covington laid one in and Brooks jammed a second-chance dunk to make it a three-point game, but Nevin Zink completed an and-1 to once again erase the difference, this time at 55-55, with just over five minutes to play. Coulibaly scored six of the team's next eight points, though, to give his team the upper hand for good.
 
The River Hawks are back in action one New Year's Eve when they open America East Conference action at NJIT.