Box Score


LOWELL, MA—UMass Lowell used balanced scoring and a dominant rebounding effort to defeat visiting NJIT, 73-64, in men's basketball Monday night in snowy northern Massachusetts. By defeating the Highlanders Monday night, the River Hawks earned a split of the home-and-home season series between the two teams.
 
UMass Lowell is 7-14 after paying back a 55-44 loss to NJIT in Newark back on December 7. The Highlanders are 9-15.
 
The balanced scoring for the River Hawks, who used just five starters and two backups in the game, was paced by sophomore DJ Mlachnik's 15 points, all of which came on 5-10 shooting from 3-point distance. Behind him, guards Chad Holley and Akeem Williams contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
And perhaps the most influential player in UML's turnaround from a 1-11 start through December to a 6-3 record in the new year, senior forward Antonio Bivins came off the bench for a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Bivins, a senior who averaged 15.5 points and 7.4 rebounds as a junior for UMass Lowell when the River Hawks played their final Division II season in 2012-13, sustained a preseason injury and initially was expected to miss the whole 2013-14 campaign. However, his rehab went better and faster than expected and he chose to join the team for its last 16 games, practicing in December and returning to game action against UMBC on January 5.
 
His presence made UML more competitive instantly, as he added the dimension of inside scoring to a perimeter-oriented attack. He returned in the 13th game and the River Hawks, who failed to defeat a Division I opponent in November and December reeled off three wins—two close—to begin January. The added confidence and Bivins' skills have combined for the 6-3 record so far in his 9-game comeback.
 
Kerry Weldon shared game rebounding honors with Bivins, grabbing 10 caroms, as the River Hawks nearly doubled the Highlanders under the boards as a team, 48-26, including 20 offensive rebounds for the home team, which outscored NJIT 20-2 on second-chance points.
 
NJIT freshman Damon Lynn led all scorers with 23 points, but he was the only Highlander to score more than nine. Lynn also had a team-leading 6 assists, a new personal high. As a team, NJIT was credited with an outstanding 20 assists on its 23 baskets and the Highlanders also committed just 7 turnovers in the game, another excellent total.
 
After Lynn and Terrence Smith, who scored 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting, no Highlander managed more than 6 points to give NJIT a needed offensive spark on the road.
 
On the other side, Bivins was still rehabbing when UMass Lowell in Newark in December, as the Highlanders held the River Hawks to 44 points, 12 points fewer than any other NJIT foe this season.
 
While Bivins was literally out of that game in Newark, Mlachnik might have wished he had been somewhere besides the Fleisher Family Court at NJIT on December 7, too. The sophomore managed just two points that afternoon and missed all eight of his 3-point tries. But given a second chance, he led UML's balanced attack with 15 points on Monday night, setting a new career high with his five 3-pointers against the Highlanders in the rematch game.
 
In the game played at NJIT, UMass Lowell shot 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from downtown. Led by Mlachnik's 5-for-10 from distance on Monday, the River Hawks were 11-for-25 on 3-pointers, including 6-for-12 in the first half, when they scored 40 points, falling just four points shy of their total for the entire December game.
 
The score was close for much of the first half, with NJIT on top past the midway stage of the opening period by a score of 20-16 after Lynn's trey at the 9:05 mark.
 
From there, UMass Lowell took control with a barrage of 3-pointers, pouring in five triples in a span of less than three minutes to flip the 20-16 Highlander lead to 31-24 lead for the River Hawks on Mlachnik's three with 5:27 remaining in the half. Holley, the junior from New York City, sparked the 3-point flurry, sandwiching a pair around a Weldon tip-in, and then Williams drilled a three before Mlachnik's 3-pointer that capped the 15-4 UML spurt.
 
Winfield Willis hit a 3-pointer of his own for the Highlanders, but then Weldon added another layup and Mark Cornelius hit another 3-pointer for the home team, which finished off the last 8:37 of the half by outscoring the Highlanders 24-9 to go into the locker room ahead by 11, 40-29. NJIT's Lynn had 14 first-half points to lead all and Williams, the senior who was All-East Region in Division II as a junior, paced UMass Lowell with 10 points in the opening half.
 
Up 11 at the break, UML used another 3-point flurry early in the second half to take complete command, extending its advantage to 51-32 after a Weldon layup at the 14:49 mark. Before that, the River Hawks connected on three 3-pointers, two for Mlachnik, in less than two minutes from 17:48 to 15:50.
 
The winners still led by 18 points heading into the final four minutes before the Highlanders went on a 13-3 run, getting as close as eight points of the lead, 72-64, when Daquan Holiday scored on a layup with 48 seconds remaining.
 
The Highlanders will play four of the season's last five games at home, beginning with a game Thursday at 7 pm against Wheelock in the Fleisher Athletic Center.