LOWELL, Mass. – Sophomore Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) notched a game-high 20 points to lead a huge, second-half offensive outburst for the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (13-11, 5-7 AE) in an 88-71 victory against UMBC (12-11, 7-5 AE) on Saturday at the Tsongas Center.
 
After trailing by three at the break due to 85% shooting from beyond the arc by the Retrievers, the River Hawks picked it up on both sides of the ball to outscore their opponents by 20 in the second and snap a six-game UMBC win streak.
 
"Tonight was a great win against a very good UMBC team," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We played awesome defense in the second half and a lot of guys contributed. Great team effort and a really good home crowd to help us respond in the second half to beat a well-coached team. I think we're a lot better than our record. The good thing is we've handled adversity well and we've continued to believe in ourselves even though we've taken our lumps early, so we've just got to keep getting better"
 
Hikim went 10-for-15 (66.7%) from the field on the night and added six assists to his stat line. Classmate Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) chipped in with 17 points and three blocks, while senior Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) totaled 10 points. As a team, the River Hawks shot a season-high 64.4% (38-59) from the field, while outrebounding the visitors, 28-17, thanks to a game-high eight boards from junior Kalil Thomas (New Orleans, La.).
 
UMBC built the first lead of the night, but Brooks got to work with the River Hawks' first five points before sophomores Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Anthony Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) added early threes to put their squad on top, 13-9, with 13:32 remaining in the first half.
 
The offense for both sides quickly heated up, as the teams were shooting over 60% from the floor and had each hit four of their first five attempts from three-point territory through the first 12 minutes of the contest, forcing the board even at 23-23.
 
The Retrievers used a 10-5 spurt to create a two-possession buffer and would lead by as many as seven, 37-30, with just over three minutes left in the period. However, Hikim hit two buckets down the stretch, including a tough drive through traffic for the final points of the first to cut the difference to 39-36 at the break.
 
Coming out of the locker room, points from three different River Hawks quickly erased the difference. The back-and-forth battle continued with five quick lead changes before senior Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) sparked 11 unanswered points that gave the home team a 62-54 edge with just over 10 minutes remaining.
 
The visitors were within two possessions a minute later, but Brooks capped off an 11-4 stretch for the River Hawks with a massive, two-handed slam to extend the lead to 76-63 at 5:27.
 
One final 8-0 run with four different UMass Lowell scorers helped put the game out of reach.
 
The River Hawks head to NJIT on Wednesday, February 16 for a 7 p.m. tilt.