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Men’s basketball sails past Fisher College, 97-73

Jahad Thomas was one of five River Hawks to tally 10+ plus on Saturday afternoon against Fisher College. (Marilyn Saha/Connector)

Kathryn Leeber
Connector Editor

Freshman guard Rinardo Perry scored a career-high 16 points to lead UMass Lowell to their 97-73 victory over the Fisher College Falcons. Senior forward Tyler Livingston also added 13 points for the River Hawks.

UMass Lowell is now 9-14, while the Falcons fall to 14-8. This was a non-conference game and the first meeting between these two teams. The win for the River Hawks snapped their four game losing streak and nearly tied their highest scoring game of the season.

“It’s always great to be able to play all 11 or 12 guys, everybody got in the scoring column. To win by 25 or 30 points is always good,” said UMass Lowell head coach Pat Duquette.

Fisher College tried to rally back in the second half and despite unsuccessfully cutting the River Hawks’ lead, senior guard Kyle Holmes had an outstanding game with 36 points. He outscored the next leading scorer for the Falcons by nearly 20 points.

Although Fisher won the opening tip-off, the game was largely dominated by UMass Lowell. Six River Hawks scored at least two 3-pointers during the game, leading to a large margin in the score. Even so, the team only made half of their attempts, going 15-30 from behind the arc.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that shoot 3-pointers, so the style of the game kind of lent itself to that,” Duquette said regarding the team’s scoring.

The River Hawks maintained a lead for the majority of the first half, partly due to their strong defense that kept Fisher from driving to the hoop. There were several times where UMass Lowell forced the shot clock to nearly run out on Fisher.

The Falcons were forced to make longer shots and ultimately went 8-27 in 3-pointers. The team tried to rally at the end and were successfully making shots, but the lead was too great.

UMass Lowell also excelled in rebounds, ending the game with 31 defensive rebounds as compared to Fisher’s 22. Redshirt junior guard/forward Jahad Thomas led the team with six.

The rebounds contributed greatly to the River Hawk’s score, as they led to many fast break opportunities. In the first half, six points came from fast break chances, while Fisher had none.

It was a relatively clean game and both teams were equally consistent at the free-throw line. The Falcons went 11-13 while the River Hawks went 10-13.

Three additional players joined Perry and Livingston in reaching double digits in scoring, including Ryan Jones and Thomas.

Livingston spoke about his leadership role on the team and how he works to keep the team focused.

“It’s all about us. We’re not really worried about what they’re doing, we’re just trying to get better at what we’re supposed to be good at,” Livingston said.

As for the Falcons, Malik Wilson added 17 points, but he and Holmes were the only major contributors to Fisher’s score. Fisher struggled with their shooting, as they only made 38.6 percent of their field goals.

The River Hawks will travel to Albany, N.Y. for an America East conference game on Wednesday, February 1.

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