March 13, 2007

Box Score |  AP Photo Gallery  |  Photo Gallery 

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass won its first national postseason game since 1996, defeating Alabama, 89-87, on Tuesday night at the Mullins Center in the first round of the MasterCard NIT. The No. 4 seed Minutemen advance to the second round where they will travel to No. 1 West Virginia for a Thursday meeting at 9 p.m. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPNU.

UMass senior All-American candidate Stephane Lasme had 21 points and nine blocked shots to move to 19th all-time in career swats in NCAA history with 396. He fouled out with 3:09 left in overtime. Guard Chris Lowe added 19, 6 assists and 5 steals.

Alabama's backcourt duo of Mykal Riley (career-high 24 points) and Brandon Hollinger (19 points) combined for 45 overall.

Chris Lowe hit the game-winning runner with 1.6 seconds to go in overtime.

Gary Forbes (11 points) converted a basket-and-one with 1:15 left in overtime to give UMass an 87-85 lead in the extra session.

Riley made a 30-foot 3-pointer as time expired in regulation to send the game to overtime at 83-83.

Freshman Ricky Harris converted a free throw with 14.3 seconds left to give UMass the 82-80 lead after Lasme blocked Hollinger's shot with 5.5 seconds left.

Lowe forced a tie up with 16 seconds left under the Alabama basket after the Tide got the ball as Lasme slipped on the UMass baseline with 32 seconds left.

Lasme made a pair of free throws with 1:15 left in regulation to give UMass the 81-80 lead. James Life's 3-pointer with 2:00 left cut the Bama lead to 80-79.

Brandon Hollinger hit a 3-pointer with a shot clock running down to give Alabama a 76-72 lead with 4:45 left.

Dante Milligan gave UMass a 72-71 lead with 5:45 left tipping on a Chris Lowe miss. But Alabama's Richard Hendrix quickly answered to give the Crimson Tide the lead back at 73-72.

Lowe tied the game at 65-65 with 7:55 left making a 3-pointer and driving lay-up on consecutive sequences.

UMass rallied from its biggest deficit of nine (62-53) with 11:37 left in regulation to cut the lead to 62-60 with 9:04 left on a pair of Ricky Harris free throws.

Trailing, 52-51 with 14:32 left in the game, Alabama went on an 11-1 run midway through the second half to take a 62-53 lead with 11:37 left in the game. Brandon Hollinger had seven points in that spurt.