LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman Martin Somerville (Bowie, Md.) registered a career-high 26 points to help the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (13-5, 2-1 AE) secure a 70-62 victory against NJIT (3-14, 0-2 AE) on Saturday afternoon at Costello Athletic Center.
 
Somerville drained a game-high five threes to pace all scorers and added six assists. Fifth year Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) followed with 16 points and 14 rebounds for his 20^th career double-double, along with five assists. Senior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.
 
"It wasn't pretty, but we got a win at home and we needed that after Thursday's loss," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "I didn't think we played great today. We had a big lead and we didn't sustain it, which we've talked about needing to do that and stay locked in, but we made enough baskets down the stretch. Max was great, especially on the boards, and obviously Martin hit some big threes. We've got a week off now and we need to get better. We've got to get back to work and watch tape and see how good we can be, but we're not there right now. Credit to NJIT for fighting back and battling on the road."
 
The River Hawks got off to a quick start, scoring the first seven points of the contest and leading by as many as nine in the first five minutes with the help of a trio of free throws and a trey all from Somerville. NJIT worked to pull within four, but back-to-back triples from Somerville created the first double-digit difference of the afternoon at 20-10 with 12:04 remaining in the first half.
 
Two minutes later, Somerville was back at it with another bucket from deep, which ignited a 13-2 River Hawks run that was capped off by consecutive floaters from Brooks to make it 33-14 at 5:58. The Highlanders responded with a brief, 8-2 spurt before the teams went on to trade two baskets apiece in the waning minutes with made attempts from fifth year Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) and Morris III on the home side, resulting in a 39-26 UMass Lowell lead at the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, Morris III sunk a turnaround layup for an and-1, as the home side would tally nine of the first 11 points in the second to take its largest lead, 48-28, with 15:32 left to play. However, the Highlanders followed with nine unanswered to kick off a 17-4 run, closing the gap to just 52-45 at 9:51.
 
Fifth year Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) sunk a layup and Brooks tipped one in to help create a double-digit buffer twice more, but another Highlander run, this time 7-0, made it a one-possession game, 57-54, at 3:51. Somerville locked in and went 2-for-2 at the line, and although the visitors were back within three seconds later, triples from Mincey and Somerville, and a dunk from Morris III down the stretch gave UMass Lowell a 67-59 advantage with just 30 seconds on the clock. The buffer allowed the team to close out the contest with two blocks from Brooks, and free throws from Covington and Somerville, sealing the 70-62 decision.
 
The River Hawks have a buy next week and will play again on Saturday, January 18 when they visit Bryant for a 4 p.m. tipoff.