Less than a week after showing signs of life with two straight wins against the University of New Hampshire and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the University of Maine men’s basketball team is back in the loss column.
The Black Bears fell twice over the past week, losing lopsidedly to the University of Vermont before coming up short against Binghamton University this weekend.
UMaine slips to 5-18 with the defeats. Their 3-8 mark against America East opponents has them in the conference’s cellar despite being just three games back of third-place University at Albany.
They’ll get a chance to cut into that deficit when the Black Bears return home against Hartford University at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Feb. 12. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Conference-leading Vermont handles UMaine
The Black Bears suffered their 17th loss of the season when they fell to the Vermont Catamounts Tuesday night. The Black Bears took their two-game winning streak on the road where they came up short, losing 93-65.
Senior guard Sandro Carissimo led the Catamounts with 20 points followed by senior forward Clancy Rugg with 15. Two other Vermont players scored in double figures as well, with sophomore forward Ethan O’Day tallying 12 and senior guard Candon Rusin with 10.
The Catamounts are now 15-9 overall, with a sparkly 9-1 mark against America East foes.
Junior guard Zarko Valjarevic led the Black Bears with 19 points. Junior forward Kilian Cato added 15 while junior guard Xavier Pollard chipped in with 10.
The Black Bears were outshot by the Catamounts, hitting 42 percent of their attempts from the field compared to Vermont’s 60 percent. Both teams were impressive from behind the arc with UMaine shooting 47.8 percent and UVM shooting 44.
Vermont also recorded 10 blocks in the game and forced the Black Bears into committing 12 turnovers. They grabbed the majority of the misses, coming up with 38 rebounds compared to UMaine’s 16.
The Black Bears jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before things were tied at 7 with under 17 minutes remaining. Valjarevic hit one of his four 3-point shots on the next possession to regain the lead for the Black Bears at 10-7.
Carissimo scored to bring it within one, but UMaine sophomore forward Ethan Mackey laid in a bucket to make it 12-9 with 16 minutes left to play. Both teams traded buckets until the Catamounts’ back-to-back hoops knotted it up at 21 with under 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Vermont then went on run after a pair of free throws from the Black Bears, regaining the lead at 26-23 with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Black Bears tied it up at 26, but the Catamounts’ ensuing 11-2 run made it 37-28 led by Carissimo’s two 3-pointers.
UVM continued their strong play for the rest of the half, ending on an 8-3 run and taking a 51-33 lead into halftime. Overall, the Catamounts went on a 25-7 run after it was tied at 26-26.
Vermont shot 67 percent in the first half. Valjarevic had a solid half of his own, going 3-4 from behind the arc and scoring 12 points. UMaine shot 43 percent from the field in the first half.
The Catamounts started off the second half on a 12-3 run, keeping their momentum from the first half. They continued their dominance, increasing the run to 25-3 with under 11 minutes left in the game with the score at 74-36.
Cato broke finally snapped the run with a free throw and a 3-pointer to start a 6-0 run the other way to make it 74-42. He later hit another trey to cut the lead to 79-49 with under eight minutes remaining.
UMaine had some more runs but the Catamounts stood firm, outscoring the Black Bears 41-32 in the second half to cruise to a 93-65 win.
Gloger, Reid-Knight set career highs, Black Bears can’t overcome Bearcats
The University of Maine men’s basketball team dropped their second straight game Saturday when they lost to Binghamton University 73-58.
Binghamton — who had lost eight straight and 10 of their last 11 heading into their matchup with the Black Bears — improve to 5-19 on the season, 2-9 in conference play.
UMaine sophomore forward Till Gloger and freshman guard Tory Reid-Knight both set new career highs in points, leading the Black Bear offense with 15 each. The Black Bears, who had topped the Bearcats for their first conference win back on Jan. 5, shot just 35 percent from the field as a team.
Sophomore guard Jordan Reed scored 20 for the Bearcat offense, which shot 43 percent from the floor. Senior forward Roland Brown had 17 and freshman guard Yosef Yacob contributed with 15. The Bearcats won the battle on the glass with 48 rebounds compared to UMaine’s 33.
Binghamton had a 15-2 run in the first half to make the lead 19-8 with 12 minutes remaining. Pollard and Reid-Knight were able to answer with 3s to cut the deficit to just five points at 19-14.
The Bearcats responded though, extending their lead to 24-16 with a little under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Valjarevic would hit a 3 of his own later in the half to make it 26-25 with 6:05 remaining.
UMaine took the lead 30-29 with little time left as Gloger hit a layup in the paint. The Bearcats would fight back and retake the lead going into the half at 33-32 with a bucket at the other end.
UMaine shot 40 percent from the field in the first half, led by Reid-Knight who had 10 of his career high 15 points in the opening 20 minutes. Binghamton shot just 39 percent in the first half.
The second 20 minutes belonged to Binghamton though, who came out on an 8-0 run to start. Gloger put a stop to the run for the Black Bears, cutting the lead to single digits at 42-34.
The Bearcats then went on another run, this one of the 13-4 variety to go up 46-36 with a little over 13 minutes remaining.
Gloger and the Black Bears responded with a run that brought them within three points at 46-43 before Binghamton hit two free throws to increase the lead back up to five.
Gloger and Reid-Knight kept the Black Bears in it but the Bearcat offense was ultimately too much, getting the 73-58 victory.