Offensive Explosion puts Albany past UMass-Lowell

Albany, NY — David Nichols scored 24 points and his backcourt brethren Joe Cremo poured in 23 of his own to lead the University at Albany Great Danes to a 90-77 victory over the UMass-Lowell River Hawks Wednesday evening at SEFCU Arena, a game that for the majority was dominated by the hosts.

The sophomore backcourt mates accounted for over 52% of their teams scoring while shooting at a combined rate of 56.3%, as Cremo came in at 60% (9-15 shooting) and Nichols 52.9 (9-17). Overall, Albany shot 52.5%.

Cremo would add five assists and four rebounds to his line while Nichols had four rebounds and a game-high eight assists.

“We wanted to get this one back and get a little revenge,” Cremo said, referring to the 85-79 loss the Danes suffered at the hands of the Hawks at the beginning of January to open America East play. “We wanted this one back bad. We got (Stony Brook) coming up that beat us and we want them just as bad.”

After the opening 17 minutes were back and fourth, Albany closed the final three minutes of the first half on a 10-4 run, turning a one point deficit into a four point lead to give themselves at that point was their biggest lead of the game.

To begin the second half, the Danes picked up right where they left off. Nichols, who had eight points at the break, scored seven in a stretch of 2:21 to help lead the Danes on a 18-5 run to open the half and extend the lead by 13 to 17 just over five minutes in. Albany wouldn’t look back after that, as the visitors could only get as close as 11 the rest of the way.

While Cremo and Nichols did the majority of the scoring, there were multiple other contributors as well. Travis Charles finished with 15 points and five rebounds, while Greig Stire had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds in limited action, once again due to foul trouble. Devonte Campbell and Costa Anderson each had eight.

“We shared the ball and we forced them to scramble,” UAlbany Head Coach Will Brown said postgame. “We got open looks consistently. There’s balance. When we have balance offensively, we’re very difficult to guard.”

Albany, who has won five of the last six, will host Stony Brook in the annual Big Purple Growl Saturday at 7 p.m. The Danes will be looking to avenge a 72-70 loss they suffered January 8th after the Seawolves finished the game on an unprecedented 21-0 run to steal the victory.