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UMaine comeback falls short

By Matt Williams

Posted on Monday, December 5th, 2005, 12:00 am

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Despite twice overcoming 10 point deficits, and a feverish last-second effort, the University of Maine men’s basketball team fell to the Hawks of Hartford, 76-72, in the America East opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon in West Hartford, Conn.

Trailing 74-66 with less than 30 seconds left in the game, junior Rashad Tuner hit a three-pointer to bring the Black Bears within five. Junior Chris Bruff stole Hartford’s ensuing in-bounds pass, and senior Ernest Turner buried a trey of his own to make it 74-72.

UMaine head coach Ted Woodward elected not to foul on Hartford’s final possession, instead looking for a steal or 10 second violation with tight defense. The Black Bears couldn’t come up with the ball, though, and Hartford forward Kenny Adeleke’s slam dunk as time expired ended the feverish final seconds and UMaine’s comeback hopes, 76-72.

“We guarded them and we were looking to cause a turnover or a travel,” Woodward said on WZON’s post-game show. “They got it out of the trap and got their possession.”

The Black Bears were behind 61-51 with just under eight minutes remaining in the game and a 9-4 run cut the lead to five at 65-60. Hartford would regain momentum and take their 74-66 advantage before UMaine’s comeback in the final minute.

“When we were up 10, I thought we’d finish it off,” Hartford head coach Larry Harrison told Hartford Courant. “I guess we didn’t want people to leave.”

Harrison’s club’s commitment to defense frustrated the Black Bears all afternoon. The Hawks used a full-court press that caused 21 UMaine turnovers, as an abundance of Black Bears passes were deflected or stolen.

“They had 21 turnovers, but we had 20. Theirs were a lot more crucial than ours, though,” remarked Harrison.

In addition, the Hawks dominated on the glass, out-rebounding UMaine 37-22 including a 12-2 advantage on the offensive boards.

“Hartford’s a good team. They played a very physical game,” Woodward said.

UMaine falls to 1-5 on the young season, 0-1 in conference play, while Hartford improves to 3-2, 1-0 in conference. The Black Bears have yet to win on the road this season, posting an early 0-5 mark away from Orono.

“This is a tough place to play,” Woodward said. “I think we’ve only won once down here in the last five years or so.”

Senior guard and co-captain Kevin Reed missed his sixth game of the year and has yet to play this season while recovering from a foot injury.

The Black Bears were cold coming out of the gate and trailed 13-2 early in the first half before a scoring run closed the gap to 19-16. A pair of three-pointers by seniors Freddy Petkus and Ernest Turner gave UMaine their first lead late in the half. Hartford led 35-34 at halftime.

“It was a game of different runs,” Harrison said. “In the beginning we had a chance to put it out of reach, but we relaxed on defense and it became a ball game.”

The Black Bears used a lineup with Petkus and Ernest Turner on the wings and junior Jon Sheets at point guard to break Hartford’s defense. Turner led all scorers with 22 points, while Sheets had 14 and Petkus had 9. Bruff, a Hartford native, turned in a solid effort with 10 points and seven rebounds, including a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line.

“We got a lot of good contributions today from a lot of guys,” Woodward said.

Despite their trouble on the boards and with turnovers, the Black Bears shot well, especially from behind the three-point arc. UMaine went 11-26 on treys for an impressive 43 percent mark, and shot 44 percent from the field on the afternoon.

Freshman Philippe Tchekane Bofia got his first career start and turned in a solid effort with seven points on 3-6 shooting, including five unanswered to open the second half.

The road-weary Black Bears return home to Alfond Arena tonight, taking on the winless Morgan State Bears. UMaine is 1-0 at home this season.

“We’re anxious to get home now, and have some home games like so many other teams do,” Woodward said. “Well look to bring that same fire and intensity from the road.”