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University of Maine men’s basketball freshman guard Justin Edwards scored a game-high 22 points while senior guard Gerald McLemore added 18, leading the Black Bears to a 72-60 victory over visiting College of the Holy Cross on Sunday.
The win was the first victory against Holy Cross in the history of the program, and their first meeting since 1983.
UMaine came out of the gates slow. The Crusaders continued to penetrate and find the open man in the corner for uncontested 3-pointers as Holy Cross took a 22-9 lead with 9 minutes left in the first half.
After the fourth Holy Cross three, UMaine head coach Ted Woodward called timeout, and the Black Bears responded. UMaine went on a 22-9 run of their own, including 10 points from McLemore in the last 4 minutes of the half.
“Coach called timeout and told us to be aggressive and trust in our own skill,” McLemore said. “We got more aggressive.”
McLemore put on a shooting display at the end starting at the 4-minute mark of the first half, as the Black Bears found themselves down 29-19. Senior center Svetoslav Chetinov grabbed an offensive rebound and found McLemore, who buried a three from his favorite spot — the left elbow extended.
The next possession, McLemore caught the ball and quickly blew by his man, slicing through the defense for the layup. Ninety seconds later, McLemore pulled up off the dribble for another 3-pointer, completing the 8-2 run.
In the final seconds of the half, Edwards grabbed a defensive rebound and started the break himself. Edwards raced down the floor, faked a pass to the wing in transition, and finished at the rim, drawing the foul and tying the game at 31-31 going into halftime. Despite being a guard, Edwards finished the game with a team-high seven rebounds.
“We worked on rebounding all week and I am going to help out wherever I can,” Edwards said.
The second half was a different story. Freshman forward Killian Cato and the rest of the Black Bears started out on the right foot, driving into the lane and finishing with a pretty finger roll while drawing a foul. A couple minutes later, sophomore forward Alidsair Fraser outworked a Holy Cross defender in the paint for a gritty put-back.
Fraser finished with 12 points and four rebounds, with UMaine outscoring Holy Cross in the paint 38-22.
The difference in the second half for UMaine was in their defense. The Black Bears forced 10 second-half turnovers and continued to contest shots as Holy Cross went 0-4 from three in the second half, compared to 5-13 in the first half.
“We never panicked and we simply didn’t get them the same shots,” Woodward said.
UMaine held Holy Cross to only 29 second-half points.
“We finally started closing out on threes and stayed at home more,” McLemore said. “We forced their big guys to shoot mid-range inside of penetrating and kicking to shooters.”
At the 10 minute mark, UMaine missed a free throw, but Edwards sneaked in behind the Holy Cross player to get one of his five second-half steals and layed the ball in. Two minutes later Edwards banked a deep three from the right elbow, and UMaine would soon shut the door on the Crusaders.
With 7 minutes left, senior guard Andrew Rogers made a pull-up jumper and Holy Cross quickly inbounded the ball. Edwards sprinted back to make the block and force the eventual Holy Cross turnover. The steal led to an exciting Edwards dunk that capped off a 6-0 run and put the Black Bears up 67-56 with 6 minutes remaining.
“We got a long way to go, but right now I’m happy,” Woodward said.
The Black Bears followed the victory over the Crusaders with a 85-80 overtime loss against Eastern Illinois University. The Black Bears take their 2-2 record on the road to challenge the University of Rhode Island this Sunday.
Bangor Daily News