LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) logged a career-high 25 points in an 89-73 setback for the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (15-6, 6-2 AE) against New Hampshire (13-8, 5-3 AE) on Saturday evening in front of over 3,500 spectators at the Tsongas Center.
 
"We ran into a buzzsaw tonight," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "I haven't seen anybody shoot the ball in any gym like that in a long time. They were 14-for-27 from three, and anytime a team does that, it's going to be really hard to beat them. I think once they got separation from us, we started to shoot more threes than we typically do, I mean we are more of an inside-out team, we don't shoot 25 threes, so then the game got even more out of hand. I'm not overly concerned with the size of the loss. There are some things that we need to do better, and hopefully we'll self-reflect, watch the tape and get better from it, but when a team shoots 14-for-27 from three, they're going to be really hard to beat."
 
Mincey drained a personal-best 11 field goals in the outing. He was joined in double figures by senior Max Brooks, who registered 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Senior Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) and sophomore Brayden O'Connor (Ottawa, Ontario) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Despite 13, first-half lead changes, the difference in the contest came from beyond the arc, as New Hampshire tallied 14 threes on 51.9% shooting.
 
The teams played evenly to start, trading points and looking to gain an advantage. Following five lead changes in the first three minutes, Hikim sunk the next three baskets for the River Hawks to force a 12-12 stalemate with 14:45 remaining in the first half. After a UNH three, the UMass Lowell bigs took charge with back-to-back dunks from Brooks and junior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) to put the home team back on top and when three more quick lead changes ensued, Brooks drove to the hoop again before O'Connor kicked it out to Mincey for a wide-open triple to create a 23-19 edge at 10:53.
 
A 10-5 Wildcat scoring spurt gave the visitors a one-point lead, but layups from Mincey and Brooks bookended a free throw from Morris III to make it 33-31 in favor of the home side. However, the visitors closed the half on a 15-6 run to pull away 46-39 heading into the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, New Hampshire scored the first five points to stretch its lead to double digits, but senior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) drained a step-back to break the silence for the River Hawks and Morris III followed with a corner three to cut the difference to seven, 51-44, with 15:47 left to play.
 
Over the next three minutes, the Wildcats worked to take a 12-point margin at 61-48. Mincey fought for two and came up with a big block on the other end that led to a trey from O'Connor, but UNH used an 18-6 run to stretch the lead to 79-59 with 6:27 to go. Mincey would go onto score the River Hawks' final 14 points of the night, but the Wildcats ultimately took the 89-73 victory.
 
The River Hawks now open a three-game road swing at UMBC on Thursday, February 8 at 7 p.m.