LOWELL – Fifth-year Quinton Mincey (Upper Marlboro, Md.) registered a career-high 31 points to help propel the UMass Lowell men’s basketball team to a 80-70 comeback victory against Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon at Costello Athletic Center.
Despite trailing by as many as 15 late in the first half, the River Hawks (4-2) battled through nine second-half lead changes to come from behind in the decision.
Mincey sunk a pivotal three with just under five minutes left and although the Bobcats knotted the score once more at 62-62, freshman Martin Somerville (Bowie, Md.) drilled a trey of his own and fifth-year Max Brooks converted on a tough shot to give UMass Lowell the lead for good, 68-62, at 3:33. The visitors were within three once more, but the River Hawks outscored their opponents, 12-5, down the stretch to seal the outcome.
“I’m really pleased with the win at home in front of a good crowd against a very good Quinnipiac team, who is picked to win its conference this year,” said UML head coach Pat Duquette. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. They played a funky zone. We thought it was going to be half man and half zone, but it was pretty much all zone, and I thought it was especially effective in the first half and caught us off guard. We turned the ball over, it led directly to points for them, and we dug a pretty good hole for ourselves. I thought we stayed composed for the most part and listened to what we needed to do at halftime and took care of the basketball, and then found some seams in the zone, which we didn’t do in the first half.”
Mincey shot 57% with 13 field goals, including four threes, and added eight rebounds. Brooks chipped in with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Somerville finished with 16 points. Senior Cam Morris III (Alexander City, Ala.) dished out seven assists, as the team surpassed 20 helpers for the second consecutive game.
The River Hawks won the opening tip, allowing Mincey and Brooks to tip in buckets on back-to-back possessions. Mincey would also add an early three and good passing led to a Brooks dunk, but the Bobcats followed with a 7-2 spurt to even the board for the first time at 11-11 just under six minutes into play. However, UMass Lowell scored nine of the next 12 points, including an alley-oop from Mincey to Brooks to create a two-possession buffer, 20-14, with 9:56 remaining in the first half.
The teams were deadlocked once again less than two minutes later following seven straight Bobcat points and a free throw from Mincey to make it 21-21. Quinnipiac responded with an 18-3 run, though, as Mincey accounted for the lone field goal for the home side during that six-minute stretch, opening up a 39-24 margin in favor of the visitors at 1:53.
The River Hawk offense was able to lock in down the stretch and score seven of the last nine points with the help of a three-point play from Brooks to cut the difference to 41-32 at the break.
