Manchester, N.H. (February 11) -- A late run by UMass Lowell in the second half lifted the River Hawks to a 66-57 win over Saint Anselm on Monday night in Northeast-10 Conference play at Stoutenburgh Gym.

UMass Lowell opened up an early 8-4 lead behind five points from Mike Gore (Wilimington, Mass.) and a three-pointer from sophomore Craig Heatherly (Mishawaka, Ind.). Saint Anselm answered though with a quick 6-0 spurt and took its first lead of the game on a layup from freshman forward John Tello (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) with 14:45 left in the first period. The Hawks held the River Hawks scoreless for a span of 7:05 to build to a 15-8 lead with 9:57 left before the scoreless drought came to an end on a baseline jumper from Gore. Saint Anselm pushed the lead into double digits for the first time at 23-12 with 3:56 left after a turnaround jumper from Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) and forced UMass Lowell head coach Ken Barer to call a timeout and try to stop what was then an 8-2 run. The River Hawks certainly did come up with an answer as they ended the half on an 11-2 run to close to within 25-23 at the half. UMass Lowell held an incredible 27-12 edge on the boards, including an 11-3 advantage on the offensive end. Neither team shot over 35 percent from the field in the half as the Hawks were led by seven points from Jeff Dickson (Bedford, N.H.) and UML received 10 points from Gore in the period.

The River Hawks started the second half with a relative scoring outburst to build to a 36-32 lead with 13:49 remaining. Saint Anselm went scoreless for a period of 3:49 as the River Hawks took their first lead since the 15:30 mark for the first half. The Hawks regained the lead on a baseline layup by Junior Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and pushed the lead back to double digits at 47-37 on a Mitchell three-pointer with 9:55 left. In a game tipified by scoring runs, the visitors, behind eight points from Dashon Harper (Columbus, Ohio), unloaded a 17-2 run over a span of 5:28 to seize the lead back at 54-49 with 5:25 left. The run was eventually halted by a three-pointer from forward Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario), who eclipsed his previous career high of 11 points with the long ball from the top of the key. The River Hawks never let the hosts any closer though as they closed the game on a 12-8 run for the nine-point victory.

Zeko led the Hawks with a career-high 16 points, while Mitchell had 13 points. Kevin Carr (Lancaster, Ohio) led four River Hawks in double figures with 16 points, while Max Kerman (Watertown, Mass.) was the leading rebounder with 11 boards.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 10-12 overall and 8-10 in the Northeast-10 and are now in 10th place in the league standings. The River Hawks improve to 10-12 overall and 7-10 in league play. Saint Anselm is back in action on Wednesday night as Saint Rose visits Stoutenburgh Gym for a 7:30 p.m. start.