By Anthony Panciocco and Andrew Stefanilo
The University of Maine men’s basketball team fell to two conference foes in decidedly different fashions this past week, losing in a blowout to Vermont on Thursday before being bested by reigning conference champ Albany in a barn-burner Saturday afternoon.
The Black Bears slip to 3-14 overall and 1-4 in America East play. They’ll get another shot at getting back into the win column when they host the University of Massachusetts-Lowell at the Cross Insurance Center on Jan. 23.
Turnovers, rebounding trip Black Bears in blowout loss to Catamounts
ORONO, Maine – Not much went right for UMaine Thursday night when they were bested 83-46 by the visiting University of Vermont Catamounts.
The Catamounts would add another win against an America East foe in the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday. Their sixth straight victory ups their record to 10-8 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play.
Vermont returned six seniors along with all five of their starters from last season and the chemistry they have built was on display at the Cross Insurance Center. Their 2-3 zone stymied the Black Bears’ attack and their superior offense was able to dice up the UMaine defense for 20 assists.
“They have great position defense, they are so well positioned defensively,” UMaine head coach Ted Woodward said. “They have been playing together for so long and it shows in their play.”
The Black Bears found themselves in a hole early when the Catamounts jumped out to a 21-5 lead through the first nine minutes of play, forcing three early UMaine timeouts. Senior forward Clancy Rugg sparked Vermont early, scoring their first four points and grabbing four boards in the opening half.
UMaine junior guard Xavier Pollard turned the ball over four times in the game but provided a bright spot for the struggling Black Bear offense, hitting a long three-pointer and driving between two defenders for a layup on back-to-back possessions as the half drew to a close.
UMaine trailed 37-20 after 20 minutes.
The Catamounts rested many of their starters in the second half but continued to score at will. Their bench players continued to stifle the Black Bears defensively, but UMaine freshman forward Garet Beal was able to be effective despite playing less than 10 minutes.
Beal’s 9 points led the Black Bears on a night that they struggled, shooting just 35.6 percent from the field without any players scoring in the double-digits. Vermont’s 57.9 percent shooting clip was led by an efficient 6-8 shooting performance by sophomore forward Ethan O’Day.
Rebounding and turnovers were the preeminent problems for the Black Bears on a night that they faced the third-ranked rebounding team in America East. The Catamounts outrebounded UMaine 38-20 and scored 15 second-chance points off of 12 offensive rebounds. Senior forward Brian Voelkel had a game-high seven boards.
“They capitalized on our turnovers in transition and certainly second-chance points,” Woodward said. “Voelkel had seven rebounds and that was huge for them, it kept a lot of plays alive.”
Pressure on defense led to 21 Black Bear turnovers, but Vermont had their fair share of giveaways as well, turning it over 19 times. The Catamounts were able to capitalize more than the Black Bears, however, scoring 23 of their points off of turnovers while the home team scored 16.
Vermont head coach John Becker was pleased with the result.
“It was a good team effort,” he said. “Coming up to Maine is always a tough place to play but to come away from here with a win is really important to us. Right now, this team is locked in more than any team I have coached here.”
The Catamounts host the University of New Hampshire on Monday.
Black Bear comeback comes up short against Albany
ORONO, Maine – UMaine fell 85-78 to the 2013 America East champion University at Albany Great Danes in what was a close, hard fought contest from start to finish at the Memorial Gym Saturday afternoon.
“It was an exciting game,” Woodward said. “We have to do a better job on the defensive end. They’ve got some awfully good players obviously and they’re the defending champs.”
The Great Danes were led by senior forward Gary Johnson, who netted a career-high 28 points against the Black Bears.
“Coach just said to be aggressive, so we attacked the rim and things opened up for us,” Johnson said.
Sophomore guard Peter Hooley also tallied 19 points for the Great Danes. He went 12-12 from the free throw line, including a slew of clutch free throws down the stretch that sealed the win.
“We wanted to be an opportunistic jump shooting team today,” Albany head coach Will Brown said. “We’re a solid jump shooting team, but we’re at our best when we’re attacking the rim, and we’re at our best when we can get stops because we can get out and run a bit.”
The Black Bears were led by sophomore forward Ethan Mackey whose 24-point performance destroyed his previous career-high of 10 set earlier this season.
“I kind of fed off the energy of the home floor,” Mackey said. “It was cool because there were a lot of students there.”
Sophomore guard Dimitry Akanda-Coronel had 19 for the Black Bears as well, followed by junior guard Xavier Pollard with 11 points and five assists.
The first half was very close with both teams playing strong. UMaine got on the board first when Mackey put in a left hook for two of his 10 first half points.
Albany answered with 12 straight points before UMaine junior forward Kilian Cato threw down a slam to cut it to 12-4. Johnson hit two free throws for Albany to increase it to 14-4 before Pollard cut it to 16-6 with a drive to the rim.
The two teams traded three’s when Albany sophomore forward Ede Egharevba hit a transition shot to make it 19-6 before Pollard’s brought the deficit back to 10 once more at 19-9.
After an Albany miss, Akanda-Coronel hit a huge three to make it 19-12 with 12:02 remaining in the first half. After Egharevba hit a deep two, the Black Bears went on a 7-0 run to bring them within two.
Mackey hit a deep two to make it 21-14, then sophomore forward Till Gloger made a layup on a fast break before Akanda-Coronel hit another three pointer to make 21-19.
The rest of the half went back and forth, with neither team really taking control. The Great Danes outscored UMaine 15-10 to close out the half and held onto a slim 42-39 lead at the break.
“Give them credit,” Woodward said of Albany. “They did a good job of executing, and I thought our guys did a good job of answering the bell.”
Both teams shot well in the first half with the Black Bears shooting 61 percent to the Great Danes 51 percent clip.
UMaine would score on their first possession of the second half when Pollard banked in a shot from the post.
Johnson answered for the Danes, getting fouled and connecting on his free throws to put Albany back up by three.
Albany poured it on from there with a 21-8 run, going up 65-51 with 11:41 remaining in regulation. The Great Danes were up double digits most of the second half with the Black Bears fighting to cut into the lead.
UMaine went on a late run to make things interesting in the final moments.
Akanda-Coronel hit a layup to put the Black Bears down just six but Johnson answered immediately, getting to the rim for a layup of his own to put Albany back up by eight with just over seven minutes to go.
Mackey put in a layup off of a post move but Johnson would answer once again for the Great Danes with a three-point play after converting at the charity stripe.
With UMaine down nine, junior guard Zarko Valjarevic hit a deep two to bring them within striking distance at 74-67. Valjarevic had just 5 points as he was shut down by an Albany defense that did a solid job limiting the sharpshooter’s touches.
“We were committed to not letting Zarko get shots off, period,” Brown said. “I think when he scores well, they’re good and hard to guard.”
After back-to-back scores from Albany increased the lead to 78-67, Mackey put in another layup to bring it back to single digits.
Sophomore guard Shaun Lawton went coast to coast for UMaine following an Albany miss and was fouled, making both free throws to make it 78-71. Mackey would put in another easy layup before Albany made one free throw to make it 79-73 with less than three minutes to play.
Gloger would convert on an and-one to bring the Black Bears within three with under a minute remaining. An ensuing turnover by Albany would give them a chance to tie it up with 27 seconds left, but Valjarevic’ deep three came up short.
Hooley would hit six straight free throws in the closing seconds to seal the 85-78 win.
Albany gets back into action on Monday when they host Binghamton University at 7 p.m.