AMHERST, Mass. -- Carl Pierre scored 21 points and Luwane Pipkins scored 19 and UMass beat UMass Lowell 83-75 in a season opener for both teams Tuesday night.

The Minutemen led 42-39 at halftime, and Joey Glynn's layup with 16:29 left brought the River Hawks to within 49-47. But over the next nine minutes, UMass created safe distance outscoring their rival 22-10. Keon Clergeot made a layup and followed with dunk for a 71-57 lead with 7:57 left. UMass Lowell closed to within 77-73 with 2:31 to go on Obadiah Noel's 3-pointer, but the Minutemen were able to hang on to preserve the win.

Curtis Cobb scored 12 points for UMass, Jonathan Laurent scored 10 and Rashaan Holloway grabbed 11 rebounds.

For the River Hawks, Glynn scored 18 points, Christian Lutete scored 17 points with 11 rebounds, Josh Gantz had 16 points and Noel scored 12.