UMass sweeps Gotham Classic

The Gotham Classic came to a close on Thursday with UMass and Kennesaw State earning victories.

Donte Clark

In Amherst, Mass., Donte Clark scored 27 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to lead UMass to a 78-67 win over Rider.

The win gave the Minutemen (9-3) their fourth Gotham Classic win while handing Rider its only Gotham Classic loss.

In addition to his 27 points, Clark pulled down eight rebounds and handed out four assists. Rashaan Holloway joined Clark in double figures with 16 points in just 13 foul-plagued minutes.

Up 68-66 coming out of the final media timeout at 3:53, UMass outscored the Broncs 10-1 down the stretch and held Rider without a field goal for the final 6:03.

Rider (8-4) was paced by Stevie Jordan, who had 15 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. The eight assists marks his sixth-straight game of six assists or more. Norville Carey had 12 points and Xavier Lundy added 10 points.

In Kennesaw, Ga., Kennesaw State earned its first Gotham Classic win with a 68-60 decision over North Carolina A&T, giving head coach Al Skinner his 400th career win.

Skinner, who is in his second season with the Owls, is in his 24th season as a head coach, which includes stops at Rhode Island and Boston College.

Kendrick Ray led all scorers with 34 points, scoring half of the Owls’ 68 points. For the tournament, Ray netted 113 points in four games, three shy of the tournament record of 116 set by Davidson’s Jack Gibbs last season.

Aubrey Williams registered his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Kennesaw State (4-9), which also received 11 points from Johannes Nielson.

NC A&T (1-11) received 16 points from Sam Hunt and 13 points and six rebounds from Eliel Gonzalez.