LOWELL, Mass. – Senior Austin Green (Sicklerville, N.J.) registered a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds in a 107-55 victory for the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (1-0) against Rivier on opening night at the Kennedy Family Athletic Complex.
 
"The first day of a new season is always a fun and exciting day of college basketball," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "We have a whole new squad, so we're still getting to know each other. I thought we got off to a little bit of a rough start in the first half, but came back in the second half and played well, really spaced the floor on offense, and just made simple plays and found the right guys. We learned some good lessons in our first night out that we can take with us."
 
Three other River Hawks joined Green in double figures, as junior Khalil Farmer (Philadelphia, Pa.) and freshman JJ Massaquoi (Pince George's County, Md.) each tallied 14 points and junior Jared Frey (Columbus, Ohio) chipped in with 10 points. As a team, the River Hawks shot 60% (39-65) from the floor, including 44% (8-18) from three-point territory.
 
The River Hawks were aggressive on offensive right from the opening tip, as Green tallied the team's first four points of the new season. Junior Shawn Simmon II (Philadelphia, Pa.) added two early dunks and Frey sunk a corner trey in between to create a 16-8 edge for the home team less than five minutes into play. Rivier answered with five points in a row to make it a one-possession game, but redshirt-freshman Isaiah Walter (Central Coast, Australia) dished a pretty pass to junior Xavier Spencer (Calgary, Alberta) for three to spark a 17-2 run, making it 33-15 with 6:53 remaining in the first half.
 
The Raiders used a 10-4 spurt to cut the difference back to single digits, but Frey scored four points and Green added one down the stretch to put the River Hawks ahead, 42-32, at the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, Simmons II banked in a layup to help his side score 13 of the first 16 points, as junior Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass.) added a triple and Green chipped in with four points, as well, on the way to a 55-35 edge with 17 minutes left to play. The Raiders broke up the stretch with a layup, but Massaquoi followed with back-to-back buckets to ignite a 19-4 run that was capped off by four points from Farmer to make it 74-41 at 10:40.
 
UMass Lowell held Rivier to just nine points over the next six minutes, while scoring 21 of its own. Massaquoi then tallied eight points in the final three minutes before redshirt-freshman Keenan Bey (Lad Vegas, Nev.) finished the game with a three-pointer to seal the 107-55 victory.
 
The River Hawks will continue opening week with a visit to UConn on Friday, November 7. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.