By Andrew Stefanilo
The University of Maine men’s basketball team split their two games this weekend, falling to the University of Rhode Island on the road on Friday before handling Fisher College Sunday afternoon in the Memorial Gym.
The Black Bears will look to start a winning streak when they hit the hardwood against George Washington University in our nation’s capital Nov. 12. Tipoff is TBA.
URI bests UMaine in 100th all-time meeting
UMaine dropped its first game of the season to the University of Rhode Island 97-77 on Friday. The meeting was the 100th between the two teams, with Rhode Island having won 86 to Maine’s 14.
Junior guard Xavier Pollard led the Black Bears in scoring with a career high 23 points off 9-16 shooting. Sophomore guard Dimitry Akanda-Coronel also had a career high in points with 18.
The Rams had four players in double figures. Leading the way was freshman center Ifeanyi Onyekaba with 21 points on 8-10 shooting from the floor. Sophomore forward Jarelle Reischel also had an impressive game with 18 points.
Rhode Island dominated UMaine in rebounding with 55 rebounds compared to the Black Bears’ 28. The Rams also took advantage of their time at the charity stripe, going 33-49 on foul shots. The success from the line for Rhode Island was partly because of the Black Bears’ 31 fouls committed.
UMaine did shoot 41 percent from the field while Rhode Island shot 46 percent.
The Rams got out to a 9-4 lead to start the game but Pollard helped lead the Black Bears back with a steal and a pass to Akanda-Coronel for a score. UMaine cut it to 19-13 midway through the first half when Akanda-Coronel had another dunk off a steal to close the gap.
The Black Bears found themselves down by just five points at 29-24 until the Rams went on a run to put it at 40-30. Rhode Island ended the half on a 12-5 run to head into the break up 52-35.
The fouls piled up for UMaine in the first half as the Rams had 18 points off of free throws and were out rebounding UMaine 28-13.
Pollard cut the lead to 15 when he hit two free throws and had a layup only moments later to make it 56-41.
URI outscored UMaine 45-42 in the second 20 minutes to cruise to the 97-77 victory.
Onyekaba had 11 of his 21 points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds to record a double-double.
Valjarevic, Akanda-Coronel lead Black Bears to first win of 2013
UMaine got its first win on Sunday when they beat Fisher College 111-64 in the Memorial Gym.
UMaine was led by junior guard Zarko Valjarevic, who had 19 points and was 5-7 from behind the arc. Sophomore guard Dimitry Akanda-Coronel added 17 points and freshman forward Erik Nissen had 16 to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks.
“Anytime we get a chance to play these games it’s good for us. We get a chance to use a lot of our guys and they really just get to work on a lot of things they need to get better at,” head coach Ted Woodward said.
The first half was all Black Bears as they jumped out to a 25-10 lead. Fisher battled in the beginning of the first half by getting to the foul line and trying to get easy layups but missed a lot of high percentage shots.
“Today was about trying to stay aggressive each and every play and get better from yesterday,” Valjarevic said. “We could try out some things and clean up some stuff because the season is just beginning and we have to start playing better and this was a great opportunity to try some things out.”
Junior guard Xavier Pollard was 2-2 with 4 points and four assists before getting fouled hard and leaving the game with 9:49 remaining in the first half.
Despite losing one of their best players, UMaine continued to pile it on. Valjarevic shot 5-8, four of those shots being 3s, for 15 points at the break.
Fisher decided to lay on a full court press against the Black Bears for much of the first half, but it didn’t end well for the Falcons as UMaine shredded the press for easy layups.
“If anybody tries to press us we try to attack and stay aggressive,” Valjarevic said. “And that’s what we did for 40 minutes.”Nissen and Akanda-Coronel were both in double digits in scoring at the half with 13 and 11.
“Everything was just flowing, my shot felt good,” Nissen said. “I was getting to the rim and it just felt natural.”
UMaine shot over 56 percent from the field and 55 percent from behind the arc in the first half.
Fisher had some trouble finishing some easy chances, evidenced by their shooting 22.9 percent from the floor and 1-12 from three point range in the first half.
Despite their rebounding troubles in their first game, UMaine came back against Fisher with 30 rebounds in the first half alone compared to Fisher’s 16.
UMaine came out of the break with much of the same success as in the first half. They started in a half-court zone and would use it off and on throughout the second half.
Fisher came out on a 5-0 run, but Akanda-Coronel got UMaine on the board with a layup before adding a steal and one of his many ferocious dunks to push the lead to 61-32.
“Everyone has to play with confidence,” Akanda-Coronel said. “We don’t have anything to lose.”
Fisher increased their offensive output in the second half and made a much higher percentage of shots. The Falcons shot just over 38 percent in the second half and 46.2 percent from 3-point range.
The Black Bears were more efficient in the second 20 minutes as well, finishing with a 59.5 percent shooting effort from the floor and a 10-20 showing from behind the arc. UMaine also grabbed 51 rebounds compared to Fisher’s 31.
Nissen continued his strong performance in the second half as well making a layup, drawing a foul and making the free throw to make it 69-36 UMaine.
Both teams traded 3s to make it 82-44, but in the end UMaine was too much for the Falcons to handle offensively.
“It was a good 40 minutes,” Woodward said. “We got a lot of guys in the rotation and there’s a lot of things we got to work on, so back to work tomorrow and play again on Tuesday.”