Sports

UMaine returns to the Pit

Men's basketball surprises on the road

By Matthew Conyers

Posted on Dec. 02, 2004, at 12:00 a.m.

andrew gordon

ON THE MARK - Chris Markwood goes up for a layup during a preseason game against UMass-Lowell.

Nearly a week and a half ago, the University of Maine men’s basketball squad left Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland shocked and defeated compliments of a buzzer beating three-pointer. Now, with a little more than a week having passed since the heartbreaking finish, that same squad that was left red-faced by Bethune Cookman is on the brink of winning their third straight game of season. On the heels of one of the biggest wins in recent history against the University of Rhode Island and a victory against Dartmouth on Monday, the Black Bears are slated to tussle with Harvard at the hallowed “Pit” on Saturday night. Last Friday, the Black Bears beat the favored Rams 47-44 before a shell-shocked crowd, while on Monday UMaine took down the Big Green by a score of 58-52.

The Black Bears are currently 2-2 this year.

The sudden change in momentum has put UMaine in prime position to top .500 for the first time on the young season. More importantly, the recent success has placed the Black Bears right where they need to be with the longest road stretch looming on the horizon after Saturday’s match. Head coach Ted Woodward is happy were his team is headed but believes it is still early on in the season.

“We are playing pretty solid defense, we are rebounding well but its early in the season,” said Woodward. “We are still finding our identity and a good rhythm.”

“We are still focusing on ourselves and continuing in the direction we want to go,” said Woodward.

The Black Bears concluded their opening four-game road trip on Monday night with a 58-52 defeat of the Big Green. UMaine was led by the aggressive play of Canadian sensation David Dubois, who recorded a game high 17 points. Dubois hauled in six rebounds on the night as well. Dubios believes the Bethune Cookman outcome inspired the sparkling performance.

“Personally, I just didn’t feel in any rhythm the first two games,” said Dubois. “I guess I just responded, I felt good from the beginning.”

The Black Bears were also highlighted by stellar performances from Joe Campbell and Turner, who each added nine points respectively. Junior Kevin Reed, using his succulent scoring touch, tallied seven rebounds along with 11 big rebounds. Reed also recorded four steals.

The Black Bears finished the match holding the advantage in rebounds with a 41-24 lead.

From the start, the Black Bears dictated the pace thanks to the early play of Joe Campbell and Kevin Reed. Reed proceeded to hit three straight jumpers to hand UMaine a 12-10 advantage. The Black Bears continued to build onto the lead behind 11 first-half points from Dubois. The Black Bears closed the opening half shooting an impressive 60.0 percent from the floor in the half.

UMaine continued to run the bale in the second half building a 13-point advantage with 5:48 remaining in the decision. It one of the best defensive showings of the year the Black Bears held the Big Green scoreless for a 7:22 span during the second half. Late in the match, Dartmouth narrowed the UMaine advantage only to see the precise free throw shooting of Ernest Turner slam the door on the Big Green for good. Turner hit three straight free-throws to close out the decision.

Later on in the week Woodward discussed the outcome.

“We were on the road for our fourth game away from Orono,” said Woodward. “Dartmouth is a very good basketball team, last year they got hit with the injury bug early but going to their to gym and playing defense like we were able to, I am very happy with it.”

Although impressive, the Dartmouth victory paled in comparison to the surprise upset of the Rams the day after thanksgiving. In a game dominated by great defense and poor shooting, Woodward collected his first collegiate win as a head coach and the Black Bears knocked off a team considered a contender for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The victory against the Rams, an Atlantic 10, will undoubtedly give the Black Bears a nice boost in RPI. Woodward talked about the importance of the win.

“I just think when your a team end to end your more happy that its the first win for the squad,” said Woodward. “I am just happy that for our seniors have beaten a team that is considered a major basketball team.”

The debut victory, for Woodward who was named head coach in August, had additional significance due to his own personal family ties to URI. Woodward’s grandfather Carl, was the fifth president of the school, while his father William was a longtime member of the University community.

“Tough game, Tough team, I thought we had several guys step up in make key plays throughout the course of the game,” said Woodward. “They are a great defensive team.”

In the closing moments of the match Campbell hit a pair of pivotal free throws to a break a 43-43 deadlock. Dubois gave the Black Bears their final push nailing 1-2 free throws with three seconds remaining. The Rams made one last charge up the floor only to miss on a buzzer-beating three points that glanced off the front of the rim. The closing miss sparked a ghostly silence over the home crowd that thought they had a easy win in the bag.

Once again Dubois believed the Bethune Cookman match inspired the dual victories.

“It was just a matter of time after the Bethune Cookman, of being frustrated and we told ourselves that this kind of thing shouldn’t happen,” said Dubois.” We did what we had to do to pull out the wins,” said Dubios.

Point guard Chris Markwood led UMaine with a career high 14 points, while Reed chipped in 11 on the night and a team nine rebounds. Reed also knocked down three three-pointers to put him four away from the UMaine record for career three-point field goals. Dubois recorded eight boards throughout the game.

Coming off the two straight wins, the Black Bears are set to play their lone game in “the Pit” in Memorial Gym on Saturday. A factor that Dubois will play into the outcome of the game against the Crimson.

“The Pit is smaller and a different atmosphere, it really lifts our team every year, we love to play there,” said Dubois. “Its really our gym, we feel really comfortable in the Pit.”

The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 2nd, 2004, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.