LOWELL, Mass. – Fifth year
Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) registered a team-high 26 points to help propel the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (8-4) to a 92-83 victory against Dartmouth (4-6) at Costello Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
The second half proved to be the difference in the contest, as the River Hawks trailed by double-digits in the first, but went on to shoot 78% from the field in the last 20 minutes. The team also won the turnover battle, forcing 13 with 19 points off turnovers for the game.
"Dartmouth is as good of a three-point shooting team as I've seen, they shot 17-for-36 and we still won the game," said Head Coach
Pat Duquette. "If anybody didn't notice how much of a better team we were in the first 10 minutes of the second half, it was just so clear and I hope it's clear to my guys. They came out of halftime and decided they were going to play the right way, make the right pass and find the open man, and all of a sudden it was like a whole different team. Everybody was a part of it, our excitement and energy picked up and made us better on the defensive end, and it all came down to making the right plays and making the right passes. It goes to show how powerful selfless acts can be with a team and I thought it changed the entire game."
Brooks went a perfect, 12-for-12 on field goals for the day, matching the NCAA record this season and marking the best performance by any player nationwide since the 2021-22 season. The forward also added a team-high nine rebounds in the outing. Fifth year
Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) chipped in with 20 points, including three threes, while freshman
Martin Somerville (Bowie, Md.) totaled 12 points. Seniors
Quincy Clark (Columbus, Ohio) and
Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The River Hawks won the opening tip and got on the board thanks to a layup from Clark just seconds into the contest. Although the River Hawks scored six of the first eight points, Dartmouth quickly got hot from long range, draining three treys in an 11-2 run to take an early, 13-8 advantage five minutes in. Brooks snapped the Big Green run and Clark followed with another bucket to make it a one-point game. Over the next two minutes, buckets from Mincey put the home team back within one twice more, but Dartmouth would follow with 10 straight points, making it 27-16 with 8:44 remaining in the first half.
Fifth year
Anthony Blunt (Glen Dale, Md.) jumpstarted the River Hawk offense with a layup, as his squad was able to hold the opposition without a field goal for three minutes, while putting together a 10-3 run to cut the difference to 30-26 at 6:45. The Big Green went on to create a double-digit buffer at 38-28, and although Brooks answered with a dunk that ignited a 7-3 scoring spurt, Jayden Williams tallied a final three for the visitors to send them into the break with a 44-35 advantage.
Brooks opened the scoring coming out of halftime, and after the teams traded baskets for two minutes, Mincey fought his way to the hoop, starting a 16-3 River Hawk run that included back-to-back triples from him and fifth
Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) and ended with an authoritative Morris III dunk to put the home team on top, 53-52 with 14:23 still to play.
The teams battled through two tied scores before UMass Lowell took its largest lead yet, 68-60, with an 11-3 burst that was capped off by a triple from Somerville and four straight points from Brooks at 10:03. Threes from the visitors made it a four-point game less than three minutes later, but Brooks kept pushing with another two and Blunt added free throws to give the team some breathing room. Down the stretch, the Big Green was within three once more, but Covington slammed a high-flying dunk to spark eight straight, giving the River Hawks the buffer needed to secure the win at the foul line.
The River Hawks continue their homestand on Wednesday, December 18 when they host Stonehill at 6 p.m.
