Tchoukuiegno Leads UNH Past UMass Lowell, 67-61

Saturday, January 22

Durham, NH

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

7-6,2-2America East

UMass Lowell

10-8,2-4America East

UMass Lowell

New Hampshire

Photo by: Michelle Bronner

1/22/2022 4:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.H. – Senior Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) and sophomore Blondeau Tchoukuiegno (Montreal, Quebec) scored 16 points apiece to lead the University of New Hampshire men's basketball team to Saturday afternoon's 67-61 America East conference victory against UMass Lowell at Lundholm Gym.

Guadarrama and Tchoukuiegno led all scorers and a balanced UNH offense that had five Wildcats score in double digits. The others were sophomore Nick Johnson (Bronx, N.Y.; 14 points), senior Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas; 10) and senior Qon Murphy (Charlotte, N.C.; 10).

Tchoukuiegno also pulled down seven rebounds and had a game-high five assists. Senior Tayler Mattos (New London, N.H.) led all players with eight rebounds.

UML was led by Allin Blunt and Quinton Mincey with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

UNH is now 7-6 overall, including 6-0 at home, and 2-2 in America East. UML moved to 10-8, 2-4.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

New Hampshire returns to action Monday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m.) at the University of Maine. The Wildcats' next home game is Jan. 26 (7 p.m.) vs. Maine.

Tickets for all UNH men's basketball home games are available online by CLICKING HERE, by calling (603) 862-4000 or in person at the Whittemore Center box office.

There was a total of 11 lead changes and six ties in the game, and that included seven lead changes and five ties in the first half. The River Hawks took a 3-0 lead two minutes into the game on Blunt's 3-pointer, and neither team led by more than margin until UML went on an 8-0 run to build a 20-13 lead at 9:03.

New Hampshire closed the half on a 17-6 spurt, including an 8-0 run in the last four minutes, to take a 30-26 lead into halftime.

Tchoukuiegno's 3-pointer ignited the run and his outlet pass led to Murphy's layup and 28-26 lead at 2:04. Tchoukuiegno made a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining to cap the first-half scoring.

UML opened the second half on a 13-8 run to take a 39-38 lead at 14:32. Tchoukuiegno responded with a fast break layup to put the Wildcats back in front and begin a stretch of 11 consecutive points that pushed the margin to 49-39 at 10:14.

UNH built its largest lead of 17 points, 59-42, on a Layup by Johnson at 6:45 to mark an overall run of 21-3 in a span of 7 minutes, 47 seconds.

The River Hawks sliced the deficit to single digits, 59-50, on Kalil Thomas' driving layup at 3:14. The teams exchanged scores to advance the score to 65-54 with 1:35 remaining, and then UML scored five consecutive points to pull within 65-59 with 1:01 to play.

The 'Cats beat the press and, with the shot clock winding down, Martinez found Guadarrama alone on the left blocks for a layup and 67-59 lead with 32 seconds on the clock.

UML missed three consecutive layups and then Johnson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 15 seconds left. Blunt was fouled on a layup with 10 seconds remaining to lift the visitors within 67-61. He missed the ensuing free throw but teammate Everette Hammond pulled down the offensive rebound. Hammond went up for a layup but was blocked by Guadarrama. The River Hawks were awarded the ball and Blunt missed a 3-pointer as time expired.

UNH shot 46.4 percent (26 of 56) from the floor while holding UMass Lowell to 34.9 percent (22 of 63). The Wildcats made 3 of 12 3-point attempts in comparison to 5-for-21 for the River Hawks, who were 1 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first half.

UML finished with a 40-37 rebounding advantage that included 16-10 on the offensive glass, but the 'Cats had an 11-6 edge in second-chance points. New Hampshire doubled up the River Hawks in the paint, 44-22, and outscored them 9-0 in transition.

Both teams committed just eight turnovers.