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The University of Maine is used to having big contributions from their neighbors to the north on the hockey rink, but Wednesday night two Canadian natives helped propel the men’s basketball team to their sixth-straight win against the Boston University Terriers.
Ontario born freshman Murphy Burnatowski recorded a career-high 14 points to lead all scorers, and fellow Ontario native Mike Allison converted a lay-up off an inbound pass as time expired to give UMaine a 56-54 win at Alfond Arena.
Allison was only on the floor for seven minutes, and the game-winning field goal was just his second on the evening, but his heroics were not as unlikely as the stat sheet might indicate. Coach Ted Woodward said the team had been practicing a play to utilize Allison’s six-foot-nine frame and enormous wingspan for such a situation.
“We got our first option and we made the play,” Woodward said. “This time of year you’re always working on stuff and we were fortunate enough to work on that in the past couple of days, and you never know when you’re going to need to use those things.”
Despite its effectiveness, however, the play was not executed quite as flawlessly as it was drawn up.
“There was supposed to be some arc on that pass,” said a smiling Junior Bernal, the lone senior on the team who made the inbounds pass to Allison. “I had a big guy in front of me so I just threw it up there and Mike did a great job by catching that ball. Mike definitely saved me.”
“There was a lot of arc on that pass,” Allison said with a laugh. “So I was waiting there for a second and as soon as it came I tried a little quick tip and I missed, but I got the ball back, bobbled it a bit, and then put it in.”
The heroics, however unorthodox or unexpected, could not have come at a better time for UMaine (14-6 overall, 6-1 America East), which is off to their best start in conference play in school history.
After Bernal (eight points, 10 rebounds, four assists) fed junior guard Terrence Mitchell (10 points) for a fastbreak lay-up to put the Black Bears up 53-43 with five minutes remaining in the game, the Terriers clawed back.
In the final five minutes before Allison’s game-winner, BU erased that deficit by buckling down defensively to limit UMaine to 0-for-5 shooting from the field, while UMaine missed 3-of-4 free throws over that span.
When BU forward Jeff Pelage scored off an offensive putback to tie the game with four seconds remaining, it looked like the game was headed to overtime with all the momentum in the Terriers’ favor. UMaine, however, pushed the ball up the floor and called a timeout with 2.9 seconds to draw up an inbounds play.
This game was a big one for the Black Bears, whose impressive resume was only missing a win against a conference power, but Woodward and his team remain humble.
“I don’t look at games as benchmark games,” he said. “We look at a game and go out there and try to win it. People asked me before this game, ‘Is this a statement game?’ I don’t know how many times we have to make a statement, we aren’t trying to make a statement, and we are just trying to win the game that’s ahead of us and learn from the game that’s behind us.”
Woodward added that his team has done a great job “having tunnel vision” and approaching each game with the same mentality.
“They’re just doing a good job of focusing on the game ahead of them and trying to take care of business in that one. And I give these guys credit because that’s really the mark of a mature group.”
And while this team is buffeted by young players like leading scorer Gerald McLemore and the two Canadian freshmen who Woodward says have made “tremendous” contributions, they are led by Bernal, their lone senior.
“I can’t say enough about Junior and the success he’s having right now,” Woodward said. “He’s a wonderful representative of our program. He’s a great story and we would love to see the ultimate prize at the end. He’s done a great job leading these guys.”
An uncharacteristically emotional Bernal, who was named the America East Player of the Game for his all-around efforts, made several big rebounds and hustle plays that won’t show in the stat sheet.
“I was really into the game,” he said. “I felt like everybody was into it. Everyone was working so hard, I knew that any situation was going to be a tough one so I knew we had to stay strong. That’s why I was so emotional out there.”
“I was really hyped about this game,” he added. “But I take every game seriously.”
Woodward was also pleased by the crowd of 1,500-plus that attended the game.
“We had a great crowd tonight. It’s wonderful having all those students come out and our guys fed off it,” Woodward said. “There was a lot of energy in the building and that’s extremely exciting.”
UMaine dropped a 56-55 decision Saturday afternoon to UMBC to fall into a first-place tie with Stony Brook University.
