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The men’s basketball team went into Saturday’s game against Stony Brook looking to gain momentum going into the post-season. Instead, the Black Bears extended their losing streak to four games when they lost this weekend’s game 56-51. The team dropped to 7-20 on the season and 3-11 in conference play. Stony Brook improved to 6-21 overall and 3-12 in conference play with their win.
The two teams started the game slowly and were evenly matched for the first nine minutes of play. With 10:31 remaining in the first half, the Black Bears went on a 13-0 run to go up 22-11. The run was capped off by a powerful dunk by Brian Andre with less than five minutes to go in the half. UMaine held a 14-point lead and went into half time up 27-17.
In the second half, Stony Brook took control of the game. The Seawolves used nine UMaine turnovers and a 21-10 run to take a brief 38-37 lead with 7:10 remaining in the game.
The Black Bears built their lead back up to eight with less than five minutes to go after freethrows by Mark Socoby and Kaimondre Owes. The lead did not hold for long as Stony Brook battled back to take a 49-48 advantage with 2:19 remaining in regulation.
Chris Martin made two freethrows with 1:30 left to play to put Stony Brook up 51-48. Andre pulled UMaine within one point with 14 seconds remaining; that was as close as the Black Bears would get.
UMaine made a key mistake when they attempted to call a timeout with none left to use. A technical was issued for the error and Ricky Lucas connected on both free throws for a 53-48 lead. Stony Brook won the game by a score of 56-51.
The Seawolves were led by Lucas with 14 points, while Chris Martin and Mitchell Beauford added 13 points apiece.
Mark Socoby led UMaine with 14 points and four rebounds while Kaimondre Owes chipped in with 12 points. The Black Bears had a 37-32 rebounding advantage but they committed 18 turnovers to Stony Brook’s 13. UMaine was 10-19 from the free throw line to Stony Brook’s 20-23.
The young Black Bears have struggled over the past few games because of injuries to key players Junior Bernal and Brian Andre. Bernal missed his fourth straight game due to a foot injury while Andre saw action in his second game since recovering from a broken nose. Andre gave Maine 12 points and 10 rebounds in a return loss to Boston University and provided eight points and five rebounds in the loss to Stony Brook.
The Black Bears look to turn things around when they square off against the University of Maryland Baltimore-County. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Alfond Arena on Thursday.
