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Purple Knights Downed in NE-10 Play at UMass Lowell 74-55

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Created on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 04:11

Written by George Commo

Ward Hits Trio of Threes in Loss

Courtesy of St. Michael's Sports Information

LOWELL, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team fell against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 74-55, on Tuesday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Costello Athletic Center. The Purple Knights slipped to 7-13 overall and 6-10 in the league, while the River Hawks are 15-5 and 11-5.

Saint Michael's had suffered each of its prior seven NE-10 losses by 10 points or fewer, and 10 of its past 11 games overall had been determined by 10 points or less. UMass Lowell continued a surge, moving to 11-2 after starting 4-3, as the visitors narrowly held the hosts below their league-leading scoring average of 75.4 points.

Senior Tom Ward (Brighton, East Sussex, England/Saint Francis [N.Y.]) led Saint Michael's with 11 points, going 3-of-5 from three-point range, while freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) added nine points and seven rebounds. Junior Travis Warech (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) notched nine points and two blocks, and freshman James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) had nine points.

Junior Matt Welch (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) netted a game-best 16 points for UMass Lowell, hitting four three-pointers, sophomore Akeem Williams (Brockton, Mass./The Winchendon School) added 15 points and six assists, and senior Dipanjot Singh (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) had 14 points.

The Purple Knights trailed 5-3 before receiving the next seven points from three different players, as freshman Dom Ditlefsen (Portland, Ore./Sunset) canned a three at 15:34 of the opening half to provide the visitors with a 10-5 edge. Ditlefsen and Ward later canned triples 35 seconds apart to give Saint Michael's a 16-9 advantage, and Cambronne converted a put-back at 7:42 to keep his team on top, 23-19.

UMass Lowell countered with the next nine points before Ward knocked down a jumper to cap a 5-0 spurt, tying the game at 28, but the hosts pushed the run to 20-5, as Singh's lay-up at 53 seconds made the score 39-28. The Purple Knights trailed at the half, 39-30, after a Warech hoop.

Senior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) dropped in a bucket at the 19-minute mark of the second half to draw his team within seven, but UMass Lowell scored the next five points and never again led by fewer than 10.

Saint Michael's continues road action with a Saturday contest at Franklin Pierce University. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.