Men’s Basketball
MAINE at UMASS LOWELL
Time, site: Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Costello Athletic Center, Lowell, Mass.
Records: UMaine 6-22 (3-10 America East), Mass Lowell 10-16 (4-9)
Series, last meeting: Mass Lowell leads 8-3; Mass Lowell 88-64 on 1/31/18
Key players: UMaine — 5-11 G Aaron Calixte (16.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists per game), 6-6 G Isaiah White (10.3 ppg, 4.6 rebounds), 6-7 F Andrew Fleming (9.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg), 6-6 G Ilker Er (8.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg); UMass Lowell — 6-2 G-F Jahad Thomas (20.2 ppg, 7.9, 4.1 apg, 1.8 steals per game), 6-1 G Matt Harris (12.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg), 6-3 G Ryan Jones (110.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg), 6-7 F Josh Gantz (8.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.1 blocks per game)
Game notes: A win would leave UMaine and UML tied for seventh place in America East with two games left. The River Hawks have road games remaining at Maryland Baltimore County (10-3 AE) and at New Hampshire (6-8). UMaine visits Albany (8-6) on Saturday before hosting league-leading Vermont (12-1) next Tuesday. UML’s Thomas is bidding for conference player of the year honors. He ranks second in AE in scoring and assists, third in steals and field-goal percentage (.518) and fourth in rebounding. Six River Hawks scored in double figures in the first meeting. UML is the league’s top-scoring team at 75.4 ppg but allows a conference-high 78.1 ppg. UMaine is America East’s lowest-scoring team at 66.5 ppg and has the second-worst defense at 74.4 ppg. The Black Bears are 2-13 on the road, and are coming off a 67-63 loss at Hartford last Thursday.