LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) registered his third double-double of the year with a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds to propel the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (12-4, 3-0 AE) to an 86-82 win against UMBC (5-13, 0-3 AE) on Saturday afternoon at Costello Athletic Center.
 
With the victory, the River Hawks are 3-0 to start America East Conference play for the first time ever. The team also extends its win streak in Costello to 23 games, as well as its current overall win streak to five games.
 
"This was a good win, but we haven't put a full, 40 minutes together yet," said Assistant Coach Matt Graves. "It was a full-team effort. We knew UMBC scored 80 points per game coming into this, so we knew they could score in bunches and would make a run at some point. Obviously, we wish they didn't make it as close as they did, but hopefully, we watch some film and learn from this and get better moving forward."
 
Brooks shot 77% (10-13) from the field and was joined in double figures by senior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.), who chipped in with 17 points, senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.), who tallied 14, and senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali), who rounded things out with 12. Hikim also added a season-high nine assists.  As a team, the River Hawks shot 49% (33-68) from the floor and controlled the glass with a 39-32 advantage.
 
UMass Lowell's ball movement was on display early, as senior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) and Coulibaly sank the first buckets of the afternoon. The Retrievers quickly made it a one-possession game, but a one-handed slam from Brooks and another layup from Coulibaly ahead of a perfect effort at the line from sophomore Brayden O'Connor (Ottawa, Ontario), helped keep the home team in front, 12-7, with 13:17 remaining in the first half.
 
UMBC used seven unanswered points to take its first lead of the day, but it was short-lived thanks to a 9-2 River Hawk spurt that was bookended by points from Mincey to put the home team back on top, 21-16, at 9:02. The teams traded baskets with Mincey keeping his team on top with five more points of his own before the River Hawks were able to put together a 12-2 run that was capped off by three straight baskets from Brooks to give the team its first double-digit lead, up 38-24 with 2:49 to play in the first. Junior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) then closed the half with a rhythm three from the wing to send his side into the break with a 45-31 advantage.
 
Brooks scored the River Hawks' first four points of the second, although the Retrievers used a pair of threes to help cut the difference back to 10. Coulibaly drove to the hoop and Covington followed with five consecutive points, including a far corner three, stretching the lead to 58-41 with 15:03 still to go.
 
The visitors battled all the way back with a 16-2 spurt, however, closing the gap to just 60-57 at 10:32. Coulibaly fought to the hoop to snap almost five minutes without a field goal for his squad, and Hikim and Brooks added points to quickly stretch the lead back to eight at 67-59 with less than eight minutes to go.  
 
The River Hawks maintained at least a six-point buffer until UMBC made a late push with a 9-0 burst to once again make it a one-possession game with 34 seconds on the clock, but Hikim and Brooks took care of their opportunities at the foul line to secure the 86-82 outcome.
 
Now headed for a pair of games in New York state next week, the River Hawks first tip off at UAlbany on Thursday, January 18 at 7 p.m.