Box Score LOWELL, Mass. – Sophomore
Brayden O'Connor (Ottawa, Ontario) set a new personal-best with five, three-pointers en route to a game-high 22 points, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (11-4, 2-0 AE) defeated America East Conference foe NJIT, 70-62, on Thursday evening at Costello Athletic Center.
Despite a difference of as many as 12 halfway through the second half, it was a three-point game with just over four minutes left on the clock. Buckets from senior
Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and junior
Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) solidified the lead, though, and free throws by O'Connor and Brooks in the final minute sealed the outcome.
"We really know what it means when we say there aren't going to be any easy games in America East this year," said Head Coach
Pat Duquette. "That rang true tonight, as NJIT played really well, played tough, gave us a good run and made a couple comebacks. I thought that Ayinde's defensive pressure early in the second half changed the rhythm of the game for us. It made them uncomfortable and gave us confidence, and that's when we went on a run that ended up being the difference in the game. We have to be better, I know that, and obviously, we have to be better from the free throw line, although I thought down the stretch, we made them. Overall, it was great to get another conference win and good to be home."
O'Connor was one of four double-digit scorers for the River Hawks, as senior
Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) tallied 12 points, and classmates
Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and
Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) each chipped in with 11 points. Brooks added a season-high five blocks, while Mincey led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.
O'Connor continued his momentum from the last outing, opening the game with a pair of treys before senior
Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) laid in his first bucket after missing the last nine games. The Highlanders found their footing on the road and quickly made it a one-possession game, but back-to-back jumpers from Hikim gave the home team a 15-9 advantage with 13:40 remaining in the first half.
Although NJIT cut the deficit back to two, O'Connor knocked down another triple to stretch the River Hawks' buffer to 20-13 at 10:41. The visitors kept chipping away, however, and after trading buckets with UMass Lowell maintaining at least a two-point edge, the Highlanders used an 8-2 spurt to tilt the board in their favor for the first time at 35-33 with two minutes to go in the period. Morris III added a free throw and Mincey got a block in the final seconds, allowing Hikim a chance to erase the difference, but his deep three attempt clanged off the rim as the buzzer sounded to make it 35-34 at the break.
NJIT extended its lead to six after halftime, but O'Connor hit his fourth jumper from beyond the arc to spark a 21-3 River Hawk run that included five straight points from Brooks and a corner three from Mincey, putting the home side back on top, 55-43, with 9:53 still to play.
The Highlanders snapped the streak with six straight points to pull back within single digits. Mincey then responded with an and-1, but an 8-2 NJIT stretch closed the gap to 60-57 to set up an exciting final four minutes.
