LOWELL, MA --  University of Maine men's basketball team falls short to the UMass Lowell Riverhawks, 71-62, Wednesday night.
 
Kristians Feierbergs got the Black Bears started off in the scoring department, dropping in a jumper from the paint 31 seconds into the contest.
 
Maine would extend their early lead all the way up to a 14-6 lead at the 11:29 mark.
 
The Riverhawks would battle back to take a lead in the contest with 4:50 left in the first half as Justin Faison buried a free throw to give his squad the lead.
 
UMass Lowell would head into halftime holding onto a narrow 3-point lead.
 
The Riverhawks would come out in the second half and extend their lead up to 10 as Allin Blunt buried a free throw at the 12:37 clip. Blunt would later get the Riverhawks lead up to 14, their highest mark of the contest.
 
Ja'Shonte Wright-Mcleish would get a Black Bear rally started as he buried a jumper with 4:19 left in the second half.
 
Maine would go a 10-0 run to cut the deficit down to just two points with 1:48 remaining in the half.
 
The late free throw shooting by the Riverhawks would ice the game for the squad, leading to their 10^th victory of the season.
 
Blunt led the scoring for his squad, racking up 23 points and 4 reb in the contest. Kalil Thomas (13 pts) and Justin Faison (11 pts) also played key roles in the offense on the night.
 
For the Black Bears, they were led by a career-best performance from Kristians Feierbergs, who made a career-high 22 points, brought in a career-high 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double, all while shooting a dazzling 9-13 and 4-6 from 3pt range. Maks Klansjeck (13 pts, 4 reb, 3 a) also played a key role in the losing effort.
 
For Maine, they head back home to face off against the UMBC Retrievers on Saturday, Jan. 22. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.
 
-UMaine-