WALTHAM — While homecourt advantage hasn't been kind to the Bentley University men's basketball team lately, a little home cooking helped Watertown native Max Kerman last night in UMass-Lowell's quarterfinal victory against the Falcons in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament.
``I was home last night,'' the River Hawks' junior captain said after the 76-63 victory handed Bentley its third straight home loss for the first time since the 2000-01 season. ``I drove by this morning on my way to the school, so it's great to play next to my home.''
And while Bentley has only lost four home games in the last four years, the Falcons have lost their first game in the NE-10 tournament the last two seasons.
But while No. 2-seeded Falcons (22-6) will surely be among the Division II NCAA Tournament field when it's announced on Sunday, the No. 7-seeded River Hawks (18-11) - who defeated No. 10 Assumption 91-77 to advance to last night's game - will most likely have to win the NE-10 tournament title to keep dancing.
They will play third-seeded Merrimack in Thursday's semifinals with an opportunity to play in Saturday's championship.
``This was do-or-die for us, we came in out of the NCAA Tournament so this was do-or-die for us,'' Kerman said.
The River Hawks had not won in the Dana Center since 2003. Bentley defeated Lowell 66-64 on Feb. 17 and 81-56 on Dec. 2.
``None of their players or coaches have ever beaten Bentley so you're talking about a hungry, very good team, that's been really ready to come after us,'' Bentley coach Jay Lawson said. ``And they put it on us. You gotta give them credit.''
Bentley entered the game on a two-game slide, losing to Franklin Pierce, 72-70, and Stonehill, 76-69, to close the regular season. Prior to that, the Falcons had prevailed in 61 of their previous 63 Dana Center appearances.
``That doesn't have anything to do with this game,'' said Lawson, noting that his second-best player Tom Dowling suffered a stress fracture in his foot after cracking a vertebra earlier in the season. ``We were undefeated when he's played. He tried to play, but his foot hurts too much. We've been playing all the other older players way too many minutes while he's been out all season.
``The other teams are starting to pick up that we don't have as many weapons, so it's all those dynamics - the home thing doesn't mean anything. There's only 500 people here on a good day. We've always been a good road team anyway, so I don't put any stock into that.''
Bentley fell behind, 11-4, early last night before using its long-range shooting to take control of the game. The Falcons hit three 3-pointers during a 14-0 run that gave them a 17-11 advantage with 11:32 to play in the first half.
Lowell crawled back into the game before Bentley senior guard Jason Westrol's three-point play off an emphatic left-handed dunk gave the Falcons a 22-18 edge with 9:10 left in the half.
But Lowell went on a 3-point shooting binge of its own, hitting four in a 16-4 run that put the River Hawks up 34-27 going into halftime.
``We just worked the ball around, we were patient and we got good shots,'' Kerman said.
The River Hawks' sharp shooting continued in the second half as they jumped out to a 16-point lead halfway through the half. Freshman guard Scotty Travers-Taylor (10 points) knocked down back-to-back triples before driving coast-to-coat to put Lowell up 43-34 with 15:13 to go. Then senior forward Ali Kanaan (11 points) hit a 3-pointer for Lowell.
Bentley came storming back, cutting the deficit to 55-46 as Westrol (game-high 23 points) scored the first six points of an 8-0 run in which Bentley stole the ball three times and Lowell committed a 10-second violation after a near steal.
The run was finally broken by Lowell sophomore guard Robert Walton, who finished with 12 points. He converted a three-point play with 4:29 to play, which was followed by a Westrol 3-pointer.
But Lowell got a 3-pointer from Kyle Caiola (12 points) the next time down to go back up by 10 points, 61-51. Even a hard dunk by Bentley junior forward Brian Tracy (12 points) - which made it 61-53 - was not enough to swing the momentum in the Falcons' favor.
``Maybe if we're down eight and get some steals and press (we can come back), but when you're down 16 you cut it to eight and then we're gassed,'' Lawson said.
Kerman, who finished with five points and five rebounds, came down with a rebound off a missed Bentley 3-pointer with 1:59 to play and was fouled. He split the pair to put Lowell up 66-53.
``It was a big win for us,'' Kerman said. ``I've never beaten them in my three years, and the seniors have never beaten them before, so it was a big game for us to come and play hard.
``It's a great win but we're not done yet.''
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