Connor Withers scored a game high 17 points Wednesday night to help the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks to a 71-63 America East men’s basketball win over the Maine Black Bears at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Both teams had a lead in the first half. The Riverhawks led the first 11:29 taking as much as a six point lead, but the Black Bears took a 15-14 advantage when Precious Okoh scored on a fast break layup. Maine had their biggest lead of the night at 22-14 on a Stephane Ingo three-pointer 2:39 later to help cap off an 11-0 run. UMass-Lowell got two from the line from Obadiah Noel though to push them back into the lead 34-32 at the half.
Maine (7-18, 3-8 America East) took their last lead of the game when Sergio El Darwich layed one in 2:31 into the second half. Withers regained the lead for good for the hosts with a three-pointer on the next possession 39-38. The Black Bears did tie the game on four different occasions but couldn’t quite get over the hump. UMass-Lowell would hit 9-10 from the line in the last 2:02 to ice the victory and improve to 10-16, 4-7 in conference play.
Withers added seven rebounds to go along with his game high total in points in the UMass-Lowell win. Ron Mitchell had 16 points and eight rebounds. Allin Blunt contributed 12 and Noel also had 11 points. El Darwich had 13 points and five rebounds to lead Maine in the loss. Andrew Fleming chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds. Maine is back at home to host Albany on Sunday at 1 p.m.
