LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Quincy Clark (Columbus, Ohio) tallied a career-high 21 points, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (9-4) defeated Stonehill (6-7) on Wednesday evening at Costello Athletic Center.
 
With the win, the River Hawks improve to 8-0 at home so far this season. As a team, UMass Lowell overcame six lead changes, shooting 54% on the night and outrebounding its opponent, 37-21.
 
"I'm please with our team tonight, getting another good win against a quality opponent," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "I was really impressed with Stonehill and I loved their offense. They play an old-style motion offense where they screen off the ball. You don't see that very often and defensively, they play with a lot of heart and a little chippiness. We did just enough to win at the right time. It was a great win and now there's not much time before another game on Saturday."
 
Fifth year Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) added 18 points in the outing, while freshman Martin Somerville (Bowie, Md.) and senior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The River Hawks scored the first 12 points of the contest, as Clark and Brooks opened the game with two buckets apiece. Fifth year Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) then finished a layup coming out of an early Skyhawk timeout and Morris III added one of his own before the visitors were able to get on the board with a three, six minutes in. The visitors were able to mount a 10-3 run to cut the difference back to just five, until fifth year Anthony Blunt (Glen Dale, Md.) knocked down a three to make it 18-10 with 11:33 remaining in the first half.
 
Strong three-point shooting helped Stonehill score 10 of the next 11 points to take its first lead, 20-19, at 8:57. Somerville would drain his first points of the night with a triple from the wing to regain the upper hand for his side, and although the Skyhawks forced two quick ties, Brooks and Clark combined for six points to give the home side a 30-26 edge with just over three minutes to go in the first. The Skyhawks used seven straight points to go back on top down the stretch, but Blunt hit a three at the buzzer to send the teams into the locker rooms all tied up at 33-33.
 
The teams traded buckets and the lead on four occasions coming out of halftime before five points from Clark ignited a 13-0 River Hawk run that included a massive, breakaway dunk off a steal from Mincey and was capped off by a layup through traffic from Morris III to create a 49-40 margin with 12:59 still to play.
 
Two minutes later, the Skyhawks worked their way back within four, but an and-1 from Morris III, and points down low from Brooks and Mincey extended the difference to double-digits for the first time since the early minutes, 57-47, at 8:59. UMass Lowell maintained at least a seven-point buffer until Louie Semona sunk a trey to make it 68-63 with three minutes to go. The River Hawks held strong in the final minutes, though, mounting one last 10-2 spurt with field goals from Clark and Somerville to secure the 78-67 victory.
 
The River Hawks will play one more game before the holiday break, hosting Boston University on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m.