Wang Junjie set a single-game scoring record for a Chinese player in the top tier of US college basketball after scoring 28 points for the University of Massachusetts on Thursday.

Competing in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Wang accounted for nearly 40 per cent of his team’s points in the comeback 72-62 win over UMass Lowell.

The NCAA oversees 90 championships across 24 sports spanning three tiers, Divisions I, II and III, with basketball and American football drawing its largest audiences.

Division I represents the highest level of college basketball globally and serves as the main talent pipeline for the NBA. According to the NCAA, about 90 per cent of the roughly 1,500 players selected in the first round of the NBA draft since its inception in 1947 came from Division I schools.

In Thursday’s regular-season contest, which gave Massachusetts their first home win of the new campaign, Wang started and played 30 minutes. He shot 10 of 16 from the field and five of seven from the free-throw line, adding nine rebounds and one block.

Massachusetts struggled offensively in the first half and trailed 31-37 at the break. Wang was the team’s lone consistent scorer during the opening period, playing 15 minutes and making six of eight shots for 16 points, more than half of his team’s 31-point total.

After the interval, Massachusetts opened with a 13-7 run to level the score at 44-44. Following several lead changes, Wang scored consecutively late in the half to fuel a 16-6 surge, before sinking a decisive three-pointer with 41 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 66-59 and seal the win.

Massachusetts outscored their opponents 41-25 in the second half to complete the turnaround.

The 28-point performance surpassed the previous single-game record of 27 points for a Chinese player in official NCAA competition, which Wang had jointly held with Chinese women’s national team player Deng Yuting.

His previous career high came on January 11, while playing as a forward for the University of San Francisco.

By comparison, Kyle Forman Anderson, an American-Chinese professional basketball player for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, scored a season-high 28 points during the 2013-14 NCAA season while playing for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in a 71-67 loss at Utah.

Having transferred to Massachusetts this season, Wang posted 18 points and 13 rebounds, followed by seven points and five rebounds, in his first two appearances.

Massachusetts will next host Bryant University on November 18.