Lowell, Mass. - Chad Holley scored 25 points to lead eighth-seeded UMass Lowell to an 82-65 win over the ninth-seeded Le Moyne College men's basketball team on Friday night in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships.

Freshman forward Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) led the Dolphins with a career-high 19 points, including 11 in the opening half. Graduate student center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) and sophomore forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) each scored 12 points, while Janson had five rebounds. Senior guard Gamal Mohamed (North Plainfield, N.J./Immaculata) dished out a career-high seven assists in his final collegiate game, while adding five points 

Holley scored 16 of his game-high point total in the second half, while finishing the game with five rebounds. Antonio Bivins, Akeem Williams and Kennedy Chukwuocha each scored 13 points in the win for the River Hawks. Bivins recorded a game-high seven rebounds, while Williams and Chukwuocha each had three rebounds.??

Le Moyne (13-14) scored four of the game's first seven points over the opening 1:05, but the River Hawks answered with eight straight points over the next four minutes. Bivins made two free throws, Romeo Diaz followed with two free throws, Williams made a lay-up and then James McDonnell had a put-back.

Following six points from each team over the next four minutes, the Dolphins scored 15 of the next 20 points to take their largest lead of the game with 5:12 remaining in the first half. Freshman guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) ignited the run with a three-pointer, Mahoney followed with a baseline jumper, Janson made consecutive shots in the paint, Mahoney nailed a three-pointer for the lead and then buried another three-pointer for a 25-22 advantage.

The River Hawks, who defeated the Dolphins, 71-68, on January 23rd in Syracuse, responded with a 15-5 run of their own to close out the first half. Chukwuocha made a pair of baskets around a lay-up by Holley to give UMass Lowell a 28-25 lead with 3:30 left. After Mahoney nailed his third three-pointer of the half to tie the score, Bivins made two free throws, Holley converted a jumper and then Bivins dunked the ball. Following a lay-up by Janson with 22 seconds left, Holley banked in a three-pointer with one second left to give the River Hawks a 37-30 lead at the intermission.

UMass Lowell, which became the first #8 seed to beat the #9 seed since the Dolphins defeated Saint Anselm in 2008, opened the second half with the first eight points of the second half and 18 of the first 22 points to take a 55-34 lead with 13:53 remaining. Holley had seven of the points, Chukwuocha tallied six points and Bivins scored the other five points, while Romich and Janson had baskets for the Dolphins.

Junior guard Nate Champion">Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) and Mahoney made back-to-back lay-ups to get the Dolphins within 17, but the River Hawks answered with a 9-2 run to take their largest lead of the game with 9:17 left. Williams made a jumper, Holley drilled a three-pointer, Bivins made a lay-up and then Holley hit a jumper.

After the teams split the game's next 22 points over a span of 3:44, the Dolphins scored 14 of the game's last 21 points to deliver the final score. During the 11-11 stretch, Champion hit a three-pointer and a jumper, while Mahoney and Lovell hit three-pointers. Greg DeSantis and Chukwuocha each had three-pointers for the River Hawks, while Holley had a traditional three-point play and McDonnell made a lay-up.

In the 14-7 stretch to close out the game, Mahoney recorded a conventional three-point play, Mohamed nailed a three-pointer, Romich made two lay-ups, Lovell knocked down a three-pointer and then Champion made a free throw for Le Moyne's final point of the season. Diaz had a pair of lay-ups for four of UMass Lowell's seven points.