UMass Lowell entered Wednesday night’s America East men’s basketball game against the University of Maine with the conference’s most porous defense — allowing more than 78 points per game.
But that deficiency didn’t matter Wednesday evening as the River Hawks turned to offense to pull away to an 88-64 victory over the Black Bears at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
UMaine falls to 5-19 overall, 2-7 in America East play with its next game against Binghamton at home on Saturday afternoon.
UMass Lowell, which is eligible for conference postseason play for the first time this winter after making the four-year transition from NCAA Division II to Division, is now 9-13 overall, 3-6 in America East.
UMass Lowell’s point total was the most allowed by UMaine so far this season, though the Black Bears have yielded at least 83 points in five of their last six games.
The River Hawks shot 54.1 percent (33 of 61) from the field for the game, with All-America East redshirt senior forward Jahad Thomas leading the way with 19 points. Ryan Jones added 18 points for coach Pat Duquette’s club while Ryan Harris scored 16, Josh Gantz 12 and Rinaldo Perry 11.
Aaron Calixte paced UMaine with 20 points while Andrew Fleming chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds.
UMass Lowell shot 56 percent (19 of 34) from the field overall and 50 percent (6 of 12) from 3-point land while building a 49-35 halftime lead.
The River Hawks took control with an 11-2 run midway through the opening 20 minutes to take a 22-10 lead, then extended that margin to as much as 32-16 on a four-point play by Harris with 9:43 left in the half.
The Black Bears were left to play catch-up, and did close to within 43-34 on a jumper by Isaiah White with 2:42 left before intermission.
But UML scored six straight points to extend its lead back to 15 points before UMaine’s Dennis Ashley closed out first-half scoring by making 1 of 2 from the free-throw line with four seconds left.
Thomas paced UMass Lowell with 12 first-half points, four rebounds and four assists while Harris scored 11 points and Jones added 10.
Fleming scored 10 first-half points for UMaine while Calixte and White each scored nine.
Calixte made a jumper to draw UMaine within 52-42 2:34 into the second half before UMass Lowell broke the game open with 13 unanswered points.
Jones had eight of those points, including three after being fouled on a 3-point attempt, while Perry had two baskets and Harris made his third 3-pointer of the night as the River Hawks extended their lead to 65-42 with 14:41 left.