THE BASICS:

RESULT: UMass Lowell 85, Hartford 83
LOCATION: Chase Family Arena at Reich Family Pavilion
ATTENDANCE: 1,752
RECORDS: Hartford (7-17, 2-7 America East); UMass Lowell (8-14, 4-5)

THE LEAD:
Pancake Thomas scored 37 points – his third game with 35-plus in the last 11 contests – and grabbed seven boards, but Jahad Thomas' layup with 1.5 seconds left lifted UMass Lowell to a victory over the Hartford men's basketball team by a score of 85-83. Jahad Thomas scored 21 and dished five assists for the River Hawks.
 
Jalen Ross added 12 points and Jason Dunne chipped in seven points, four rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block off the bench.

FIRST HALF:
The teams traded blows early with the River Hawks holding a 5-4 lead, but UML went on a rally at that juncture, holding the Hawks offense at bay to put together a 23-9 run, capped off by a Keith Hayes II three-point play, that put the score at 28-13 with 8:05 left.
 
That's when Head Coach John Gallagher turned to walk-on Mark Plousis to take to the court. His teammates responded by catching fire on both ends, rolling off a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to just four. During the rally, Thomas delivered a three-point play and scored 10 of the Hawks' 13 points. The River Hawks were able to push the lead back to nine at 37-28, but a Dunne layup with 1:40 left sent the Hawks to the locker room down 37-30.

SECOND HALF:
Hartford was able to generate an offensive flow to open the second half, but the River Hawks continued to punch back and answer Hawks baskets. With the squad down 49-34 and needing someone to step up, Thomas answered the call in a big way. With under 14 minutes to play, the team's leading scorer put through the next nine points for Hartford, including an electrifying three-point play, which started to close the gap and shrunk UMass Lowell's lead to 53-46.  The Hawks turned the tables, pressuring the ball more defensively and answering every basket that the River Hawks could muster.
 
Hartford forced UMass Lowell into early foul trouble and gained a number of points at the stripe. Ross was fouled and hit both free throws to give Hartford their first lead of the game, 65-63, with 8:55 to go in the half. Seven lead changes down the stretch kept both teams within inches of each other the rest of the way.


The Hawks pushed ahead by three on the strength of another free throw by Thomas to hold on to a 75-72 lead with just 4:16 to play, but UMass Lowell closed the gap and did not back down. After Thomas and Isaac White traded baskets, a transition basket by the River Hawks forced a tie game.
 
Hartford surged back ahead by three after a layup on a sweet dish from Ross to Dunne to give the Hawks a 82-79 lead with under two to play, but UMass Lowell answered with a quick basket and scored off a turnover by Ross on an inbounds play. Thomas tied the game at the line for the Hawks, but UMass Lowell hit the winning basket on a backdoor cut to the rim by Jahad Thomas that sealed the victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
·       Pancake Thomas was on fire again, dumping in 37 points, just one shy of his best mark when he dropped 38 at New Hampshire on Jan. 24. The redshirt junior has now three 35-point performances on the season, leaving him and Vin Baker as the only Hawks in program history to have multiple 35-point performances in his career.
·       Dunne continued his strong play off the bench, chipping in five assists and seven points. The five dishes marked a career high, totaling more tonight than in the freshman's previous 10 games combined.
·       Mark Plousis checked in for a career-high 11 minutes in the contest. The walk-on's previous high in a game was seven against Widener on Dec. 12.
·       The Hawks went 24-for-29 at the free-throw line, which marks the fifth-straight game that they shot .750 or better at the stripe. Tonight was Hartford's second-highest free-throw percentage on the season at .833. The season-best mark (.875) was set against Yale on Jan. 2.
 
UP NEXT:
Hartford heads to Long Island for a matchup with conference-leading Stony Brook on Monday, Feb. 8. The Hawks and Seawolves will do battle at 7 p.m. and the game will be carried on The Talk of Connecticut 1360 AM with Jeff Dooley and Randy LaVigne on the call.