AMHERST — There couldn’t have been a more stark difference in tone and body language in Frank Martin and Pat Duquette’s post game interviews, and rightfully so.

Martin, the UMass men’s basketball head coach, was visibly upset with his team’s lack of effort after losing two consecutive buy games, while Duquette donned a pleased mug and lauded UMass Lowell’s ability to close out the Kennedy Cup with discipline and attention to detail.

The River Hawks scored 56 second-half points, shot 30-for-34 (88 percent) from the free throw line and made their last six field goals of the game to pull away from UMass, 96-83, at Mullins Center on Saturday afternoon.

Martin ripped his team apart for most of his nine-minute presser.

“We’ve got no individual toughness,” he said. “Every time we play these teams that are all senior-led teams that got guys that are disciplined, that play for a purpose, that play for winning, that don’t play for individual stats, [we struggle]. We don’t have the individual toughness, the discipline, whatever the word you want to find, which they’re all my responsibilities to create. But we don’t have it right now.”

UMass found itself only down 76-72 after a Rahsool Diggins layup with five minutes to go. But UMass Lowell’s Quinton Mincey responded with a 3-pointer that boosted the River Hawks advantage back to seven. Minutemen freshman Luka Damjanac converted a layup on the other end, however Mincey again buried a deep ball to kill any UMass momentum. His second 3 sparked a 7-0 UMass Lowell run, one that put them ahead 87-74.

Although the Minutemen chipped away to get within nine with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left, they never got closer than that. Mincey, who finished the night with a game-high 27 points, carved up the UMass zone and seemingly had an answer for every mini Minutemen run.

“He’s become a great player,” Duquette said of Mincey, a fifth-year senior that put up 31 points in a win over Quinnipiac on Nov. 23. “He’s gotten better every year. He’s such a huge part of what we do. I don’t think he was necessarily playing in rhythm in the first half… then we put him in the middle against their zone. I thought he was really good there. It’s not an easy place to play. He saw the ball go down and then he hit a couple 3s after that.”

Over the last six minutes of game time, UMass Lowell scored 22 points compared to UMass’ 13. The River Hawks’ starting lineup features five seniors, three of them being fifth years. Duquette’s roster features 10 seniors, many of them whom have been with the program for their entire college basketball careers.

In an era where consistency among rosters is unequivocally uncommon, UMass Lowell hasn’t had an issue getting guys to stay put. Whether it be because the River Hawks are always competing for an America East title – they’ve been to three of the last four title games – or the fact their players are committed to Duquette, they’ve figured out how to establish continuity year in and year out.

That was clear as day down the stretch on Saturday when UMass Lowell closed out UMass with ease.

“They’ve got guys that have been together for four years and are committed to what they do,” Martin said of the weekend’s opponent. “I’m not here to play the what could have been game, but when we were all able to keep our players the way [UMass Lowell does], you become that… I’ve gotta figure this one out.”

Aside from Mincey’s 27, UMass Lowell received 22 points from freshman guard Martin Somerville and 19 points from fifth-year senior Yuri Covington.

The bright spots for UMass? Marqui Worthy and Jayden Ndjigue – two sophomores still searching for their roles on this year’s Minutemen team – had career days with a pair of players out of the lineup and Diggins still struggling with his shot. Ndjigue had a career-high 17 points and team-high eight rebounds while Worthy netted a career-high 15 points. Jaylen Curry put up 17 points and Daniel Rivera added 12 before fouling out late in the game.

UMass shot 13 more field goals than UMass Lowell, and forced 21 River Hawks turnovers compared to the Minutemen’s 13. Still, UMass lost by double digits.

“How about making a shot? How about making free throws? How about making wide open shots? How about making layups rather than shoot cute finger rolls?” Martin said, referring to why his team lost despite leading in those significant categories. “I wish [Mincey] would shoot cute finger rolls for them, maybe we’d have a chance to get him to miss. We’re more concerned with videos and being cute than we are winning games.”

And while UMass Lowell is one of the more efficient offensive teams UMass has played this season (the River Hawks average 85 points per game), surrendering 96 points obviously isn’t what Martin wants to see.

As was the case last season, the Minutemen’s defense on screens continues to plague them. Especially against talented guards like Covington and Somerville, teams are going to thrive on putting UMass’ bigs in ball-screen situations to pull them away from the basket – making it much easier to penetrate inside.

“It’s embarrassing,” Martin said of his team’s ball-screen defense. “My old fat a** can guard a ball screen better than our centers… Until we figure out a way to grow there, we continue to be a layup machine for the other team – unwilling to give effort on rotations to get to the ball. We’re gonna continue to lose when we play good teams.”

UMass (3-7) will look to avoid a third straight loss when it returns to action next Saturday against Division 3 UMass Boston at the Mullins Center.