Men's Hoop Season Ends in AE Quarterfinal Loss to UMass Lowell

Sunday, February 28

Durham, N.H.

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

10-9,9-6America East

UMass Lowell

10-11,7-8America East

UMass Lowell

New Hampshire

America East Rookie of the Year Nick Johnson scored 14 points (Photo by Gil Talbot).

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Men's Hoop Season Ends in AE Quarterfinal Loss to UMass Lowell

2/28/2021 6:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Wildcats trimmed 21-point deficit to three before succumbing in closing moments

Nick Guadarrama scored a team-leading 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting. (Photo by Gil Talbot)

DURHAM, NH – Junior Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) paced three University of New Hampshire men's basketball players in double digits with 16 points, and the third-seeded Wildcats narrowed a 21-point deficit to three before dropping Sunday afternoon's 72-64 matchup to No. 6 seed UMass Lowell in the Hercules Tires America East Championship quarterfinal matchup at Lundholm Gym.

UML (10-11) received a game-high 28 points from Obadiah Noel to punch its ticket to the America East semifinals for the first time in program history. The River Hawks will face No. 1 seed UMBC on Saturday, March 6 (2 p.m.).

Junior Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas) and redshirt freshman Nick Johnson (Bronx, N.Y.), the America East Rookie of the Year, each finished with 14 points for UNH (10-9). Martinez grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, one more than Johnson, and redshirt freshman Blondeau Tchoukuiegno (Montreal, Quebec) tallied six points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

"Proud of our guys persevering through this season," UNH head coach Bill Herrion said. "'We didn't know if we'd get through the season with the pandemic ... Our guys deserve a lot of credit for hanging in there. Their attitudes have been great."

UMass Lowell went ahead 55-34 on Noel's 3-pointer with 9:31 remaining when UNH mounted its comeback with a 28-10 run over the next eight-plus minutes. The Wildcats closed within 65-62 on a left-corner 3 from graduate student Chris Lester (Barrington, Ill.) with 1:18 left. Guadarrama knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 67-64 with 44 seconds remaining before the River Hawks fended off the 'Cats by scoring the game's final five points.

"Not the way you want to end the season, but I think there were a lot of positives," Herrion added.

Score: UMass Lowell 72, UNH 64
Records: UMass Lowell (10-11), UNH (10-9)
Location: Durham, N.H. (Lundholm Gym)
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2021
Hercules Tires America East Championship • Quarterfinal Round
Box Score (Web) • Box Score (PDF) • Highlights

Blondeau Tchoukuiegno had 6 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 40 minutes. (Photo by Gil Talbot)

WILDCAT NOTEBOOK:
•The Wildcats finished the season with an unprecedented four consecutive games against the River Hawks ... UNH went 2-2 in those four meetings ... The No. 3 seed was UNH's best since the 1994-95 season (No. 2) ... Guadarrama, Johnson and Martinez each played 38 minutes while Tchoukuiegno played 40 ... UNH committed one turnover in the game.

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