LOWELL, Mass. – Junior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds to help lift the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (15-5, 6-1 AE) to a 76-62 victory against Maine (10-12, 2-5 AE) on Thursday evening.
 
"This was a great win and I'm happy for my guys," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We rebounded well from a tough loss last week. We didn't get to play right away, which is frustrating. We had to wait a week to make it right. We played against a very good Maine team, well-coached. I think tonight just showed even more that there's no easy games. That was a tough game. They did some things to disrupt our rhythm, but I thought we responded and really executed our stuff in the second half, particularly through posting up."
 
Morris III, who went 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, finished with his second double-double of the season. Senior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) matched the game high with 19 points of his own, while seniors Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) and Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) chipped in with 13 points apiece. Hikim added eight assists, as well. As a team, the River Hawks shot 51.8% (29-56) from the field in the win.
 
A pretty, spinning layup from Brooks got the River Hawks started before a trey from Morris III sparked seven straight home points to create an early, two-possession buffer. The Black Bears responded right away with seven of their own to tilt the scoreboard in their favor, but Brooks threw down a two-handed jam and senior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) followed with a jumper to put the home side back on top, 13-11, with 13:23 remaining in the first half.
 
The defense took control on both ends until Morris III snapped over two minutes without a bucket from either squad. Maine was able to put together a 12-2 run to build a six-point advantage, however, Mincey and Hikim combined for 14 of the next 16 points of the contest to regain the upper hand, 31-25, at 1:57. Each side scored once more in the half, as Hikim hit one last jumper to send the River Hawks into the locker room with a 33-27 edge.
 
Maine quickly closed the gap to just three after the break, but Hikim connected with O'Connor on a fastbreak before Morris III knocked down another triple to ignite a 9-1 spurt that gave the home team its first double-digit margin, 47-36, with 14:39 left to play. The Black Bears cut the difference back to seven, but O'Connor finished an and-1 and Morris III sunk a reverse over his shoulder to stretch the lead to 12.
 
Just over two minutes later, Mincey tallied five consecutive points to spark an 11-4 run that gave the River Hawks their largest lead of the night, 66-49, with five minutes to go. Maine battled back with eight unanswered to make it a single-digit deficit again, but UMass Lowell took care of business at the foul line to seal the outcome.
 
The River Hawks close out the homestand on Saturday, February 3 when they host New Hampshire at the Tsongas Center at 5 p.m.