LOWELL, Mass. – Host UMass Lowell (18-7, 9-3 America East) converted 22-of-24 free throws in the second half to fend off Binghamton men's basketball (12-14, 4-9 AE) 87-80 Thursday night at Costello Athletic Center.

The Bearcats shot 58 percent in the second half (to UML's 43%) but couldn't overcome the River Hawks down the stretch. Lowell made seven free throws in the final 2:10 to hold off a BU charge.

Senior guard Tymu Chenery scored a team-high 24 points – 15 of which came in the second half. Senior forward Nehemiah Benson tallied 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting and graduate point guard Symir Torrence added a double-double of 12 points and a career-high-matching 11 assists.

Down 14 with 11:20 to play, BU used a 14-5 run to climb back into the game with Chenery and Benson doing most of the damage. The end of the run featured a putback from Chenery that brought BU within five, 67-62, with 7:14 left. The teams then traded baskets for a stretch of minutes, with Benson's layup pulling the Bearcats to within four, 78-74, with 2:37 remaining. But UML protected its lead in the final two minutes with repeated trips to the line.

UML recorded 10 blocks and the final one denied a BU 3-point bid with 36 seconds left, down six.

"We had a few breakdowns and gave them some open baskets," head coach Levell Sanders said. "We came back and had an opportunity though … got some baskets and stops but just didn't make enough plays at the end. We did a good job taking care of the basketball but they are a good offensive team and they made key plays when they needed to."

UMass Lowell began the game with five blocks in the first five minutes and led 13-7 five minutes in. But BU countered with a 13-2 run that featured a pair of 3-pointers from Torrence and four points from Benson. That five-minute spurt gave BU a 20-15 lead and the Bearcats led by five with 3:17 left before UML ended the half with a 9-2 run to take a 38-36 edge into break. Chenery tallied nine points and Torrence provided eight points and five assists. After the opening four minutes, BU shot 52% the rest of the way to keep pace with a River Hawks team that leads the America East in scoring (80.1 ppg.).

The Bearcats have a bye from action on Saturday and will next host Maine in one week at the Events Center.

NOTE
With his 24 points, Chenery boosted his career mark to 988 points, 12 shy of the 1,000-point plateau.