LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) registered a career-high 24 points to lead the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (16-4, 4-2 AE) to an 81-75 victory against UMBC (13-7, 3-2 AE) on Wednesday evening.
 
With the decision, the River Hawks set a new Division I program record of 16 wins. The team also improves to 10-0 at home for the first time since 2002-03 and is the first America East team to reach four conference wins so far this season.
 
"I'm pleased with the win tonight against what I think is an extremely good UMBC team," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "They are well-coached and they played together, connected, and scored more points in the first half than we've given up all year. We improved after half time, got a little better defensively. There was a window there where I thought we could've closed it out, but I thought we got good looks, had open threes, took the right shots and hit just enough to pull out a tough win."
 
Coulibaly shot an impressive 75% from the field on 12-for-16 shooting with 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year. Equally as dominating down low, junior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) finished with a season-high 20 points and 10 field goals. Graduate student Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) added 14 points, while classmate Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) logged 10 with six assists. As a team, the River Hawks totaled 23 assists.
 
Both sides came out ready to play right from the tip, and although Coulibaly drove hard to the hoop for the first bucket of the night, the teams battled through four lead changes in the first four minutes. The visitors led by as many as three before Coulibaly banked in a layup and senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) found Blunt for an inside-out three to open an 11-3 run that gave the River Hawks a 19-14 edge with 11:53 remaining in the first.
 
The Retrievers worked to cut the difference to just one on two occasions before Coulibaly and Brooks combined for the home team's next six points, creating a 27-22 margin at 7:23. However, five straight points from UMBC's Matteo Picarelli evened the board. A minute later, senior Connor Withers (Manassas, Va.) sunk a three form the top of the key to put his squad back on top, but the board continued to tilt back and forth with five more lead changes before a trey from Hammond knotted things up at 40-40 inside the final minute. A dunk from Yaw Obeng-Mensah accounted for the last points of the period, though, sending UMBC into the break in front, 42-40.
 
Brooks came out of the locker room with a vengeance, scoring the first four points of the second to help the River Hawks take a two-possession buffer. UMBC quickly erased the difference and evened the board at 48-48, but back-to-back dunks from Brooks ignited a 14-2 UMass Lowell run that was capped off by consecutive threes from Blunt to make it 62-50 with 12:41 to go.
 
Brooks continued his onslaught from above the rim with three straight jams, including one off a massive denial from Withers on the other end, building the largest lead of the night, 68-54, at 8:44. The River Hawks maintained at least a nine-point edge until UMBC scored 10 in a row to make it a two-possession game, 75-71, with 2:20 on the clock. Coulibaly responded with a timely dunk, though, and Withers and Hammond took care of business at the foul line down the stretch.
 
The River Hawks are home again on Sunday, January 22 when they host Bryant at 1 p.m.