Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Exactly halfway through America East Conference play, the University of Maine men’s basketball team couldn’t be in a better position. After going 5-1 in their first six AEC games, the Black Bears had the University of New Hampshire as the lone team they had yet to face in conference.
In a game that appeared closer in the final score than it actually was, the Black Bears defeated the Wildcats 64-50 at Alfond Arena.
The Black Bears improve to 13-7 and 7-1, and their win streak increases to six games, while the Wildcats drop to 8-12 and 2-6 in AEC play.
“I thought it was a good effort defensively,” Black Bear head coach Ted Woodward said. “New Hampshire plays hard. We knew this was going to be a tough battle.”
The Black Bears controlled the Wildcats in almost every aspect of the game, gaining a wide margin in rebounds, 45-31, and points in the paint, 29-19.
“We accomplished the first two things we focus on every day — I thought we did a great job holding them down defensively and we did a great job on the glass,” Woodward said.
The Black Bears held the Wildcats to 34 percent shooting, making just 18-53 attempts, including 5-23 from beyond the arc and 9-18 from the charity stripe.
The Black Bears got on the scoreboard first, as senior center Sean McNally got his own rebound for the put back. That was about all we saw early on from McNally, as Wildcat sophomore center Chris Matagrano scored six quick points on the Black Bears’ center, who didn’t play for the rest of the half.
Junior guards Gerald McLemore and Andrew Rogers connected on a pair of threes, while Wildcat top-scorer, senior guard Tyrone Conley, kept it close with a triple of his own. Freshman guard Jordon Bronner also connected on a three, going a perfect 3-3 from the field in the first half for seven points.
Most of the offense for the Black Bears came from the post, in the form of the hard-working senior forward Troy Barnies. Barnies repeatedly worked down low, entering the second half one rebound shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Wildcats held onto the ball well in the first half, giving up their first turnover with less than seven minutes to play. They finished the half with three giveaways, while the Black Bears had eight turnovers.
The Wildcats shot poorly from the floor in the first half, going 10-28, including 2-12 from three and 2-6 from the line, yet sat just five points behind the first-place Black Bears at halftime, 29-24.
Barnies led the Black Bears at the break with his 10 points, while Matagrano countered with eight points in the first half — almost four times the total he has averaged this season.
The shooting woes continued for the Wildcats, as the Black Bears came out firing from three-point range in the second. McLemore hit a three two minutes into the half, and senior guard Terrance Mitchell followed it with one of his own off a nice assist from Barnies.
Rogers joined in again on the three-point fun, following Mitchell’s three with one of his own, forcing a UNH timeout. The Black Bears quickly pushed a five-point lead to double figures in a matter of possessions.
Coming out of the timeout, the Black Bears remained hot, with Mitchell and McLemore hitting another three each, as the Black Bears scored 14 points in less than two minutes to jump to a 46-30 lead.
“We wanted to come out in the second half and pick up the tempo,” McLemore said. “We were lacking energy in the first half and we weren’t very aggressive. We wanted to pick up our energy and our tempo and have more confidence in our offense. That’s basically what was predicate to our run.”
The Black Bears hit a drought in the next five minutes, scoring just four points and allowing the Wildcats to claw back into the game.
However, it wasn’t enough, as the Black Bears wore out the Wildcats to a 64-50 victory.
McNally, who was quiet in the first half, found multiple ways to contribute in the second by taking a charge, going to the glass and hedging out on help defense.
“I thought Sean McNally did a great job defensively, helping out Gerald [McLemore] and Terrance [Mitchell] when they were guarding Conley,” Woodward said.
The Black Bears continued their stingy defensive ways, holding top scorer Conley to five points on 1-8 shooting. No Wildcat posted double figures.
“Tyrone Conley has been asked on our team to do more than a lot — like do everything,” UNH head coach Bill Herrion said. “A couple games he has — he’s been carrying us. He’s not only our leading scorer and our go-to guy on offense, he’s usually guarding the other team’s best perimeter guy.”
Barnies led the Black Bears again in scoring, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while McLemore helped on the perimeter with 13 including 3-5 from three.
“Barnies — his improvement is as impressive an improvement over the course of his four-year career as I’ve seen,” Herrion said. “The kid is a warrior, I would love to have a kid like him on my team. God, he’s good, he is really good. Arguably if the season ended today, he could be player of the year. He’s playing that well.”
“There was no doubt we could be good as long as we took care of business on the court,” Barnies said. “Like I said before, we have a long way to go, and we can get better with every game. We just look ahead to the next one. This time it’s Binghamton.”
The Black Bears travel to play the Bearcats Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Bangor Daily News