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The “Border War” moved from the ice to the hardwood as the University of Maine men’s basketball team downed the University of New Hampshire 76-70 last night at Alfond Arena. The Black Bears completed the sweep of the Wildcats for the second consecutive season and extended their winning streak over their border rivals to five.
“This is a great win for us,” said Maine head coach Ted Woodward. “We only had eight guys dressed, and we overcame that. The leaders on this team, especially Kevin Reed and Joe Campbell, took us on their back and just refused to lose.”
The Black Bears were without leading scorer Ernest Turner, who sat courtside with his arm in a sling after separating his shoulder last week. Junior Reed more than carried the load, exploding for 22 second half points, leading all scorers with 31 on the night. Reed also grabbed eight rebounds and six steals, hitting seven three pointers, including six in the second half.
“After I hit the first two three’s to open the second half, that built my confidence,” said Reed. “Every shot looked good; I felt very relaxed and in rhythm, I was in the zone.”
UMaine got a huge lift from freshman forward Ammar Harknell, who had 12 points and shot 3-for-5 from behind the three-point-line. Harknell hit a trey as time expired in the first half to pull the Black Bears within two as the teams headed to the locker room with UNH leading 27-25, and another to push UMaine’s lead to 70-64 with 3:18 to play.
“I love these guys,” said Harknell. “Knowing they were supporting me made me feel comfortable out there. I was trying to feed Kevin because he was on fire, but I got to take some shots too.”
“We’d been working Ammar with the first team this week because we thought the way UNH likes to play their defense would let him get some open looks, and he took advantage of them,” said Woodward.
The Black Bears ended their two game losing streak and climbed back to .500 with the win, standing at 11-11 overall and 6-7 in America East play. UNH fell to 7-15, 3-10 in conference play.
UNH led the game 63-62 with just under five minutes to play when the Black Bears took over. Reed hit a trey to give the Black Bears a slim lead, and on the other end, sophomore Chris Bruff stole the ball and fed it to Reed down court.
Senior center Mark Flavin collected Reed’s misfired shot and dunked it; Harknell followed with a trey to push the lead to 70-64.
The Wildcats rallied to tie the game at 70 when Campbell hit a pair of free throws with one minute remaining to put UMaine ahead for good.
At the other end, sophomore Olli Ahvenniemi blocked Ben Sturgill’s lay-up and Bruff hit a trey to seal the win.
“We needed someone to step up tonight, and we got key contributions from a lot of guys,” said Woodward. “These guys just love playing basketball. We had ten guys voluntarily shooing baskets after the women’s game last night. They love playing the game together.”
“All you have to do is believe,” added Reed. “We did miss Ernest, but as long as you have five guys in uniform who believe they can win the game you can win the game.”
Sturgill, who entered the game the leading shooter in America East, led the Wildcats with 20 points on 9-14 shooting and pulled down 9 rebounds. Sturgill only played 28 minutes and missed much of the second half with 4 fouls.
“Ben Sturgill is one of the better players in this conference,” said Woodward. “He’s had some injuries, but he always has a great game against us. He got in some foul trouble and they missed him passing a couple of time, but as always he was hard to stop.”
UMaine hits the road for a pivotal conference tilt with Albany on Saturday. The Great Danes beat the Black Bears 58-49 at Alfond Arena last month, and stand at 7-6 in conference play, one game ahead of UMaine for fourth place.
