LOWELL, Mass. – Junior
Angel Montas Jr. (La Romana, D.R.) tied a personal best with 30 points, as the UMass Lowell men's basketball team (13-15, 8-5 AE) earned its fourth straight win with a 92-79 decision against Binghamton (6-23, 2-12 AE) on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd at Kennedy Family Athletic Complex.
"Another great home win in front of a sell-out crowd against a really feisty Binghamton team that has not quit and was playing for a playoff berth," said Head Coach
Pat Duquette. "I'm really happy with my guys. We're playing good right now, so I don't want to jinx us or change up too much. The guys are connected on defense, we're sharing the ball on offense and everyone's contributing, so all in all a great day."
Montas Jr. shot 80% from the field in the contest, while senior
Austin Green (Sicklerville, N.J.) registered 20 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Juniors
Shawn Simmons II (Philadelphia, Pa.) and
Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass.) each added 13 points to round out the double-digit scorers. As a team, the River Hawks shot a conference-season best 59% from the floor and totaled a season-high 22 assists.
In the opening minutes of the contest, threes from Yepdo and Montas. Jr. helped the River Hawks tie the score early before a driving layup from Green gave the home side its first lead, 8-6, with 17:25 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats responded with a quick, 7-3 spurt to regain the upper hand, but junior
Xavier Spencer (Calgary, Alberta) knocked down a trey from the top of the key and Montas Jr. followed with a floating jumper to take a slight, 15-13 edge at 14:42.
The teams traded buckets and the lead on six occasions in the next four minutes until the River Hawks scored 13 unanswered, including alley-oops from Montas Jr. and Simmons II and a triple from freshman
Victor Okojie (Castlebar, Ireland), to create the first double-digit buffer of the night at 32-20 with 7:57 left to play. However, the Bearcats responded with 13 of the next 15 points to cut the difference to just one point, 34-33, at 3:10. Spencer laid in the River Hawks' first field goal in five minutes to snap the run and Simmons II threw down a giant one-handed slam to help the River Hawks outscore their opponents, 9-2, down the stretch and take a 43-35 lead into the break.
Coming out of the locker room, Montas Jr. sunk a trey from the wing to start the second-half offense for the River Hawks. Although Binghamton would work to cut the difference back to just one-possession on two occasions in the opening four minutes, Okojie banked in a driving layup and Yepdo followed with a three to give the home team some breathing room at 53-45 with 15:31 still to go. A pair of threes aided the Bearcats, but Green sparked a 7-2 stretch to give his side a 65-55 advantage at 11:33.
Montas Jr. scored six of the River Hawks' next nine points and Green added a layup to create the largest lead yet at 72-59 with 8:13 to play. UMass Lowell maintained at least a 10-point edge until a 7-2 Binghamton swing made it 74-66 with less than six minutes on the clock. However, the home side took advantage of its chances at the line led by Green to stay on top and two more alley-oops from Simmons II in the final three minutes helped seal the 92-79 win.
Up next, the River Hawks head to Vermont for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, February 26.
