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The University of Maine men’s basketball team opens America East conference play this weekend, facing the Hartford Hawks Saturday afternoon at Chase Arena in Hartford.
The Black Bears are searching for their first road win of the season, after a tough opening schedule that saw them come up winless in the William and Mary Tip-Off Classic before falling on the road to Pittsburgh and Robert Morris last weekend. In between the Black Bears defeated UMaine-Fort Kent at Alfond Arena to leave their record at 1-4 on the young season.
Conversely, the Hawks are 1-2 on the year, 1-1 at home. They opened their season with a loss at Massachusetts before coming home to lose to Brown and then narrowly defeat Cornell 73-71 for their first win of the season last Saturday.
Senior center Kenny Adeleke is playing his first season at Hartford after transferring from Hofstra and sitting out last year due to NCAA regulations. The 6’9”, reigning America East Player of the Week leads the conference in scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.7 points per game with 10.3 boards.
Adeleke recorded the 37th double-double of his collegiate career, with 20 points and 14 rebounds, and also blocked Cornell’s potentially game-tying shot as time expired in leading the Hawks to victory over Cornell.
The Black Bears hope to contain Adeleke with a young frontcourt that features junior Olli Ahvenniemi and red shirt freshman Christian Cavanaugh. Ahvenniemi set a career high with seven blocked shots against Robert Morris and ranks fourth in the conference with 7.4 rebounds per game, while Cavanaugh will look to match Adeleke’s offensive production.
Also contributing for UMaine up front is junior Chris Bruff, who has taken advantage of increased playing time recently and ranks just behind Ahvenniemi at fifth in the conference with 7.0 rebounds per game.
UMaine has not released any information on the status of senior guard Kevin Reed. The Black Bears’ career leader in three-pointers and a preseason All-Conference selection, Reed suffered an undisclosed foot injury and has yet to play a game this season.
At the time of the injury, it was reported that Reed would likely miss 4-6 weeks and would probably not miss any conference contests. However, there has been no word as to how Reed’s recovery is progressing or when he might try to return to the court.
Senior Ernest Turner has carried the scoring load in Reed’s absence, ranking fourth in the conference with 17.4 points per game and notching 20 or more points in three of the Black Bears’ five games this season.
Junior college transfers Jon Sheets and Rashad Turner have started all five games for UMaine and are off to strong starts in their Black Bear careers. Turner leads the team with 27 assists and Sheets is second with 11. They rank second and third on the team in scoring with Sheets’ 11.2 and Turners’ 10.0 points per game.
Saturday’s game will mark the first conference tilt for both teams. The Black Bears were picked to finish third in the preseason coaches’ poll, while the Hawks came in fifth.
The Hawks’ lineup is rounded out by seniors Aaron Cook and David Ruffin, who average 10.3 and 9.3 points, respectively, per game.
The Black Bears are coming off a disappointing trip to Pennsylvania where they lost a pair of games in different ways. They dug an early hole that they couldn’t crawl out of while playing against Big East opponent Pittsburgh on Saturday, then had a good start that got cold late in succumbing to Robert Morris Monday. The losses came despite improved defense that saw UMaine limit both opponents to less than 55 points after allowing a season low of 36 to UMFK in their previous contest.
Pitt jumped out to a 20 -point lead early in the first half of Saturday night’s game and the Black Bears couldn’t draw closer than seven points the rest of the way, losing 62-49.
UMaine trailed 32-18 at the break, but started the second half with a 5-0 run and continued playing well to cut the deficit to 36-29 on an Ernest Turner trey.
But the Panthers did enough to stay ahead the rest of the way, including hitting seven free throws in the game’s final two minutes to maintain control.
The Black Bears played with tremendous energy to claw back into the game against a Pittsburgh team that has won 52 of its last 53 home games against non-conference opponents and has never lost to an America East team.
UMaine head coach Ted Woodward was pleased with the way his team responded after the game’s first 10 minutes, and also credited Pitt and the quality of their athletes for the fast start that buried UMaine.
Ernest Turner had 15 points and Sheets had 14 as the two combined to hit seven three-pointers.
Bruff pulled down a career high 11 boards to help the Black Bears out-rebound the Panthers 42-40 in the game.
Monday night against Robert Morris a late scoring drought doomed UMaine, as the Colonials went on a 9-0 run to end the game and secure a 62-53 victory.
Rashad Turner, who had a career high 23 points, drained a three-pointer to tie it 53-53 after UMaine had surrendered a four-point lead and trailed 51-46.
The Black Bears started the game with a 7-2 lead but then surrendered a 14-0 Robert Morris run. They would battle back with two at 18-16 and trailed 23-21 at the half. UMaine’s defense held the Colonials to just 23 percent shooting in the opening half, in part due to a career best seven blocks in the game by Ahveniemi, four of which came in the first.
Senior co-captain Freddy Petkus played his best game since returning from a back injury that sidelined him all of last season, coming off the bench to grab seven rebounds and add seven points for UMaine.
The Black Bears’ next home game comes next Monday against Morgan State at Alfond Arena.
Bangor Daily News