LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) logged 18 points and a personal-best 15 rebounds to help the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (17-4, 5-2 AE) remain undefeated at home with a 98-79 victory against Bryant (13-7, 4-3 AE) in front of the program's first ever Division I sellout crowd at Costello Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
The River Hawks' historic season continues, as they improve to 11-0 at home for the first time ever and extend the Division I record for overall wins to 17.
 
The first-half proved to be the difference, as UMass Lowell scored 53 points, a season-high against all Division I opponents, while outrebounding the Bulldogs, 29-10, and holding the opposition to just eight points in the paint with no second-chance opportunities.  
 
"This was a fun day here at Costello, the crowd was awesome," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "It means the world to our guys and their support makes a big difference. We had as good of a first half as we've ever played since I've been here, so hopefully the crowd appreciated that. We defended and really shared the ball, and found open looks against a chaotic-style defense. Bryant is super talented and they showed that in the second half, made some great plays, but we had a really good first half with a lot of good contributions."
 
Coulibaly's performance marked his seventh double-double of the year. Junior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and graduate student Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) each added 17 points in the contest, while classmate Mikey Watkins (Roselle, N.J.) and senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) chipped in with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Hikim drained a bucket from long range to help the River Hawks score 11 of the first 14 points of the afternoon. Bryant then quickly worked to cut the difference to just one, but a layup from Coulibaly ignited a 16-2 run that included threes from Hammond and Watkins to help the home team pull away, 31-16, with 10:38 remaining in the first.
 
The River Hawk defense kept the pressure on, holding the bulldogs without a field goal for five minutes with the help of a massive block by sophomore Cam Morris (Alexander City, Ala.). Bryant snapped the silence with a three and was able to pull within 11, but Brooks fired right back with back-to-back buckets, as the home team continued its stellar execution in the final six minutes, outscoring the Bulldogs, 22-7, and putting an exclamation mark on the half with a buzzer-beating, contested layup by Watkins to send UMass Lowell into the break on top, 57-31.
 
UMass Lowell came out of the locker room just as dialed in with a Brooks layup to get things started. Hikim followed with a kick-out on the fast-break to an awaiting Hammond for the step-back trey, giving the team its largest lead of the night, 62-31. The teams traded baskets before the visitors tallied six straight points to make the score 69-46 with 14:52 still to play.
 
Coulibaly and Hikim combined for six points of their own to stop a potential Bulldog run before timely triples from Hammond and Watkins stretched the buffer to 81-53 at 9:50, as the home team was able to keep the game out of reach the rest of the way.  
 
The River Hawks now hit the road to visit Maine on Wednesday, January 25. Tipoff for that outing is slated for 7 p.m.