LOWELL, Mass. — Capping off an emotional senior night, UMass Lowell (20-7) took down Bryant (17-12), 89-67, at Costello Athletic Center on Thursday evening.
“Tonight was a great win against a very talented Bryant team,” said UMass Lowell head coach, Pat Duquette. “There were a lot of talented players on both teams going at it and a lot of respect between both teams.”
Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do!
Bryant stormed out of the blocks with a 9-3 run to start the game. Daniel Rivera made back-to-back buckets off of Earl Timberlake feeds to open up an early Bulldog lead.
Rivera made few friends with his opponents and the officials early on, taking a technical foul just 3:30 into the game. The first and final warning didn’t seem to hamper his scoring, however. The native of Puerto Rico entered double figures in under seven minutes.
In his first game back in Lowell since transferring to Bryant last spring, Connor Withers clearly struggled to keep his emotions in check, being handed a tech as well just a few minutes later.
The River Hawks capitalized on a clearly frazzled Bryant squad. A 13-7 deficit transformed into a 20-17 lead in just over three minutes. Lowell would end up going on one of their longest runs of the year with a five-minute, 16-0 explosion that would take them to the under-eight timeout with a 28-17 advantage.
The Bulldogs stopped the bleeding, they took the fight right back to the River Hawks. Bryant’s backcourt would provide the energy for an 8-0 run, helped by two costly fouls by Cam Morris III.
Lowell appeared to have a marginal momentum swing going into the half. Things rapidly deteriorated, however, when sophomore guard Braden O’Connor went down with a leg injury. Adding to the chaos, Ayinde Hikim was handed the game’s third “T” after the halftime horn sounded.
At the buzzer, UMass Lowell led Bryant 41-35, due in large part to their perimeter shooting. Bryant, however, dominated in the paint, scoring 24 points down low compared to just 12 from the River Hawks.
Bulldogs Exit Stage Left
Bryant would open up the second half on the attack, running downhill to the basket and contesting every shot on the back end.
The River Hawks found their limit when it came to playing possum when Max Brooks delivered a spectacular dish to Yuri Covington to kick off a 15-2 run.
The Bulldogs continued to spiral out of control even though the game was seemingly well within reach. Following a wildly heated exchange with an official, Assistant coach Chris Cole was sent to the doghouse. Connor Withers followed close behind, earning his second technical foul just barely past the eight-minute mark of the second half.
The River Hawks entered the bonus with 11:54 to go and would shoot two from the 11:31 mark onwards.
From there, the rest of the game seemed to be more of a formality. The River Hawks continued to play hard until the game truly hit garbage time. What was left of the Bryant squad, however, seemed to just try to hang onto dignity until the final whistle.
UMass Lowell guard Ayinde Hikim from his final regular season contest in front of the home fans with 20.8 seconds to play. The Washington, DC native exited to a standing ovation and a warm embrace from his head coach.
When the dust had finally settled, UMass Lowell closed out senior night with a resounding 89-67 victory. Quinton Mincey and Yuri Covington piled on the points for the hosts, finishing with 26 and 25 points respectively. Daniel Rivera paced the Bulldogs, finishing up with a 29-point, 12 rebound double-double.
Postgame Proceedings
While UMass Lowell head coach Pat Duquette might have the likely America East sixth man of the year sitting on his bench in the form of Quinton Mincey, he pointed out a different contributor to the River Hawks’s success against Bryant.
“The home crowd was pivotal in the second half,” Duquette said. “When [Ayinde Hikim] made all those free throws and they really got behind us, that was huge.”
Duquette sang the praises of senior guard Ayinde Hikim following his regular season home game at Costello.
“He shoulders a ton of responsibility… he is our leader,” Duquette said. “He has emerged as one of the best guards to ever play here and one of my favorite players to coach. I’m so proud of who he has become and how he’s grown and developed.”
Duquette also spoke to the competitiveness of the matchup against Bryant and the big-game atmosphere on and off the court.
“I think it’s very competitive, but I don’t think there’s animosity,” said Duquette. “I think there’s a healthy respect between the players. Part of the reason this is a huge game is that this is for second place and there’s still a chance at first. We’re going to go up on Saturday and see what we can do against Vermont. For us to lose Abdul-Karim Coulibaly who was a preseason first-team all-conference player and be where we are at this point in the season, it’s good to sit back and appreciate it, knowing that we still have a long road ahead.”
UMass Lowell will make the long trek north to Burlington to take on the Vermont Catamounts this Saturday at 4:30 PM on ESPN+.
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