BOX SCORE
LOWELL, Mass. - Host UMass Lowell rallied
from a 12-point second half deficit to post a 65-59 win over
upset-minded Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10
men's basketball Saturday afternoon at the Costello Athletic
Center. The River Hawks, who entered Saturday with a share of
the NE-10 lead with three other teams, extended its win streak to
13 games and are now 17-3 and 12-3 in the league, while the Penmen
are 10-10 and 6-9 in the league.
Kevin Carr led UMass Lowell with 20
points, burying six of his 13 three-point attempts. Kyle
Caiola had 18 points for the River Hawks, while three other players
finished with eight points apiece.
Troy Bowen (Nashua, NH)
continued his strong play for SNHU, finishing with a season-high 27
points, one shy of his career high. He totaled 20 points in
the first half and was 5-9 from three-point land. Tory Stapleton
(Rahway, NJ) was the other Penmen player in double figures,
registering 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Southern New Hampshire led by as
many as 12 points in the second half and held a 53-46 lead with
just over six minutes to play following a driving layup by
Stephen
Wood (South Jamaica Queens, NY). The River Hawks
used a 10-2 spurt to take their first lead of the second half at
the 3:24 mark when Max Kernan was fouled on a made three and
converted the free throw to give UML a 56-55 lead. Stapleton
made 1-of-2 at the line on SNHU's next possession to tie the game
at 56.
UML missed a pair of threes on its
next possession, with the Penmen grabbing the rebound on the second
attempt, but SNHU would turn the ball over. Carr drained a
three with just under two minutes left to make it 59-56.
After Bowen missed a three, Kernan would score with a minute to
play to make it 61-56. The Penmen had life when Cory Vejraska
(Alachua, FL) buried a three to make it 61-59 with 44 ticks on the
clock, but the River Hawks sealed it when Carr hit a layup with 14
seconds left after UML ran the shot clock down.
The Penmen opened a 45-33 lead 3:39
into the second half on a layup by Bowen, but the River Hawks
scored the game's nine points and a pair of free throws by Caiola
with 12:21 left made it 45-42. SNHU scored the game's next
six points and a layup by Stapleton with just over eight minutes
left made it 51-42.
UMass Lowell built a 15-7 lead
midway through the first half, with Carr draining a three at the
10:38 mark. SNHU then reeled off 17 unanswered points, with a
three by Bowen 5:58 before intermission giving the Penmen a 24-15
lead. Colon would cut the lead to five, 30-25, on a three
with 2:10 on the clock, but the guests would score the final four
points of the frame and a basket by Josh Morgan-Green
(Upper Marlboro, MD) made it 34-25 at halftime.
After shooting 32.1% from the floor
in the first half, UMass Lowell was 13-23 (56.5%) from the floor in
the second half while limiting Southern New Hampshire to 37.3%
shooting for the contest. The River Hawks held a 2-1
advantage in trips to the line (18-9), going 12-18 at the stripe
while the Penmen were 8-9. SNHU held a 37-32 rebounding
advantage.
Southern New Hampshire returns to
action Wednesday when it hosts Merrimack in a 7:30 game at the SNHU
Fieldhouse.
NOTES: Stapleton
has reached double figures in scoring in his last 10 games...Bowen
is averaging 22.3 ppg over the last three games.
