LOWELL, MA—Ahead by as many as 19 points in the second half, UMass Lowell survived an NJIT comeback that saw the Highlanders get to within two points of the lead with 2:39 remaining before the River Hawks finished off their sixth consecutive victory, 71-67, in men's basketball Wednesday night.
 
UMass Lowell, now 6-2, had defeated NJIT, 63-61, for the second win in the ongoing victory streak when the teams met in Newark, NJ, on November 22.
 
In the Massachusetts leg of the home-and-home Wednesday night, the River Hawks got a team-leading 20 points from redshirt freshman Jahad Thomas, who scored 12 after the break to key the winning second-half effort that ultimately withstood NJIT's rally.
 
UMass Lowell graduate student Marco Banegas-Flores added 19 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field overall and 5-for-7 on 3-point shots. He scored 14 of his points in the first half that ended with the River Hawks on top 35-22, thanks in large part to a 10-0 finish in the closing 3:42 of the period.
 
The 19 points were the most for Banegas-Flores in a UMass-Lowell uniform. He had used three seasons of eligibility before graduating from Northeastern last spring and has six games as a grad student at UMass Lowell. His previous high as a River Hawk was 15 points in the first game vs. the Highlanders.
 
NJIT (2-5) got a game-high 24 points from sophomore Damon Lynn, while sophomore Tim Coleman and junior Winfield Willis each added 11 points for the Highlanders.
 
Lynn, who was coming off of a terrific 27-point game in last Saturday's big 84-81 win for NJIT at Duquesne, continued his impressive shooting Wednesday in Lowell.
 
The sophomore 3-point marksman was able to get the ball to the rim and finish, as well, and finished 8-for-15 on all shots from the floor, including 6-for-13 from distance. 
 
Lynn scored 15 points in the second half and it was his 3-pointer that pulled the Highlanders to within two of the lead, 60-58, with 2:39 on the clock.
 
Willis scored 9 of his 11 points after the intermission and Coleman scored 8 of his 11 in the second-half comeback.
 
NJIT had a small lead in total team rebounds, 36-35, but UMass Lowell's fifth-year senior Kerry Weldon was the top individual rebounder with 12, six on each end of the floor. Ky Howard's eight rebounds paced the Highlanders.
 
Banegas-Flores was hot from the outset, nailing a 3-pointer to cap the game's first possession, but neither team led by more than three until more than 12 minutes had expired.
 
It came after Thomas, who is a power player despite standing just 6-foot-2, bulled his way through traffic for a layup and 17-14 UMass Lowell lead with 8:27 remaining in the opening half. NJIT was called for an offensive foul on the next possession and freshman Matt Harris followed with his only basket of the night for the River Hawks, a 3-pointer that staked them to a 20-14 advantage at the 7:44 mark.
 
Willis answered with a layup for the Highlanders and Lynn followed a Banegas-Flores three with two triples of his own for NJIT, leaving the score at 25-22, River Hawks, with 4:55 left in the opening half.
 
The Lynn three would provide NJIT's last points of the period, but it wasn't until more than a minute later that UMass Lowell began what would become a 10-0 spurt until the halftime break.
 
The spurt began quietly, with Tyler Livingston hitting the second of two free throws at the 3:42 mark.
 
When the dust cleared, UMass Lowell, which twice hit deep 3-pointers just in time to beat the 35-second shot clock, held a 35-22 lead through 20 minutes. Banegas-Flores had 14 points to lead all scorers at the break. He was 5-for-5, including 4-for-4 from behind the arc, one of which was a fall-away shot from 22 feet that beat the shot clock. Thomas had 8 points and Livingston had 6 points off the River Hawk bench.
 
Lynn's 9 points, all on 3-pointers, paced NJIT at halftime.
 
Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Highlanders fell back a bit farther early in the second half and trailed 43-26 after a traditional 3-point play by UMass Lowell's Thomas with 18:23 remaining.
 
The Highlanders still trailed by 17 after a Thomas layup made the score 47-30 with 15:24 on the clock. But the visitors went on an 11-2 run in a span of 2:33, trimming the deficit to single-digits at 49-41 when Willis nailed a 3-pointer with 12:38 remaining.
 
It was a battle from then on, but NJIT's comeback slowed a bit, as UMass Lowell, in a double-bonus, shooting two free throws on every NJIT foul over the final 8:57, scored enough to stay in the lead.
 
Back up by eight, 56-48, when freshman Lance Crawford connected on a 3-pointer with 6:32 left, UMass Lowell had more work to do in order to secure the win.
 
Two Coleman free throws followed by a Lynn 3-pointer got NJIT back to within three at 5:40, but the River Hawks had a 5-point lead before Lynn's 3-pointer at the 2:39 mark pulled the Highlanders back to within two, 60-58.
 
Later, the River Hawks made four free throws in nine seconds, the last two by Banegas-Flores with 23 seconds left to extend their advantage to 71-63. Lynn and Howard each made layups in the last 13 seconds before time ran out with UMass Lowell on top 71-67.
 
The Highlanders face a daunting task in their next game, as the visit Michigan (#17 AP/#16 USA Today Coaches poll) for a noon game on Saturday in Ann Arbor. The game will be televised throughout the nation on the Big 10 Network.