University of Maine
UMass Lowell
Crawford and UMass Lowell Power Past Maine Men's Basketball, 82-71
2/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LOWELL, Mass. – Freshman Lance Crawford had a career-day for the River Hawks as he scored 35 points as the UMass Lowell completed the season sweep of the Maine men's basketball team with an 82-71 final score in Lowell, Mass. The loss drops Maine to 3-23 overall along with a 2-11 conference mark while UMass Lowell improves to 12-15 and 6-8 in America East play.
Crawford, who shattered his pervious career-high of 18, went 11-of-18 from the field and a deadly 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. He and teammate Matt Harris, combined for 56 of the River Hawks 82 points.
For Maine, the beleaguered roster got production throughout the lineup but was paced by the efforts of Till Gloger, who scored 23 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Troy Reid-Knight was also close to a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds. Aaron Calixte and Kevin Little chipped in 10 points apiece, while Zarko Valjarevic also reached double-digits with 11 points.
The River Hawks managed to hold the advantage in the rebounding department, despite the size differential, as the squad won the battle of the glass, 34-26.
UMass Lowell opened strong, scoring the first five points and opening on a 10-5 run. The River Hawks then began hitting from long range, continuing it's 12-6 run, sparked by treys from Holley and Matt Harris, which forced a Maine timeout with the score 18-10 with 13:15 remaining.
Aaron Calixte capped a Maine comeback a little past the midway point as he dashed into the paint and cut the lead to just one, 21-20 with 7:11 left in the half. The River Hawks responded however as they scored five-straight points and eventually got the lead out to nine, it's largest of the half thanks to a Crawford jumper.
A late run by the Black Bears cut the deficit to just two as Garvey Melmed drained a trey with 1:25 remaining and two points by Gloger and Kevin Little each, helped the Black Bears head to the break down, 33-32.
Little opened the half with a jumper, which tied the game at 33-33, just 30 seconds into the frame.
With the score at 41-36, the Black Bears began to chisel away at that lead to just one as Little broke up court and found Gloger for a jumper to make it 46-45 with 12:44 left in the game.
River Hawks shrugged off the Black Bear attack and got its lead to its largest of the game to that point, as Harris drained a layup to make it 59-49 with 8:49 left in the game.
Gloger drew the Black Bears closer with a bucket with 7:40 left in the game to make it 61-55. The basket gave him 21 points for the game, marking the second time this season he's surpassed 20 points in a game.
Crawford continued to be deadly throughout the game but a Trey with just under five minutes remaining distanced the River Hawks to the tune of 67-58.
Maine wouldn't get closer than six points the rest of the way as UMass Lowell outscored the Black Bears, 15-13, to hold the Maine at bay.
The Black Bears will head out for one final game this week when they travel to UMBC on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup against the Retrievers. That game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
