LOWELL, Mass. – Four River Hawks scored in double-figures, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (24-7, 11-5 AE) rolled to a statement, 92-55 victory against New Hampshire (13-14, 8-7 AE) in front of a raucous, record crowd of 4,114 in the 2022-23 regular-season finale on Saturday evening at the Tsongas Center.
 
With the decision, the River Hawks finish a perfect, 15-0 at home during the regular season and in second place in the America East Conference standings for the first time ever.
 
"This was an unbelievable win for us, a great atmosphere and a great tribute to our seniors," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "I couldn't be more proud of them and they couldn't go out on a better note. This was our best win of the year. We're playing really good basketball at the right time. UNH is a very good team, they beat us at their place, but tonight, we didn't let up. We've had big leads earlier in the season that we weren't able to sustain, but tonight was different. I felt like we were more locked in and had a lot of great contributions. You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season and there is no question that we are. We have to play with an edge and stay humble, but I think we just showed how good we can be."
 
Senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) logged a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds to pace the River Hawks. Classmate Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) added 12 points, while graduate student Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) and sophomore Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the double-digit scorers. As a team, UMass Lowell forced 17 turnovers and took a 23-3 edge on points off turnovers. The River Hawks also shot 58.5% from the field in the contest as a unit and outscored UNH, 58-24, in the paint.
 
The Wildcats opened the game with free throws, but the River Hawk offense quickly took control. Graduate student Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) reached the 1,000 career point milestone with his side's first bucket of the outing, igniting an early, 10-2 spurt to put the home team in front. UNH answered to make it a one-possession game on two occasions, but UMass Lowell fired right back with 10 of the next 11 points, including a wide open three from the wing by graduate student Mikey Watkins (Roselle, N.J.) to help create a 22-10 buffer halfway through the first.
 
The River Hawks kept the pressure on, as points from Coulibaly bookended a three from junior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) before Morris sunk a turnaround layup and Watkins went coast-to-coast on the next possession, stretching the lead to 33-17 at 3:32. The Wildcats retaliated with eight straight points to close the gap, but freshman Brayden O'Connor (Ottawa, Ontario) and Blunt combined for the final seven points of the period to take a 40-25 edge into the break.
 
The River Hawk defense held the visitors scoreless in the first five minutes of the second half to pull away, 47-25. The home team kept the momentum going on with a 15-4 run that included treys from Hikim, Hammond and O'Conner to make it 64-36 with 11:26 still to play.
 
Morris hit back-to-back buckets before Hikim and Coulibaly scored six straight points to give the home team a 78-43 advantage with less than seven minutes to play. The River Hawks used one last, 10-2 spurt with triples from Hammond and Covington to secure the squad's second largest margin of victory against a Division I opponent so far this season.
 
The River Hawks are now set to host their first ever Jersey Mike's America East Playoff game on Saturday, March 4. Time and opponent are yet to be determined. Stay tuned for updates, including ticket on sale date and time.