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Last updated: Wednesday, May 9, 10:51 a.m.
Sports

Men’s basketball hold off UMBC’s bite, 77-76 in overtime

By Jesse Scardina
Posted on Feb. 06, 2012, at 1:10 a.m.

The University of Maine men’s basketball team picked up a hard-fought, overtime 77-76 victory at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday.

The Black Bears move past .500 at 11-10 and 5-5 in America East, while UMBC falls to 3-19 and 2-8 in conference.

Sophomore forward Alasdair Fraser led the Black Bears with 21 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double in three games, while senior guard Gerald McLemore added 20 points while playing all 45 minutes.

The Black Bears and the Retrievers battled back and forth in the first half, with the lead never stretching past five for either side.

Freshman guard Justin Edwards connected on a ferocious dunk over a UMBC defender near the end of the period, but the Retrievers still went into halftime with a slim three-point lead.

The Black Bears shot just under 44 percent in the first half, while the Retrievers connected on 38 percent of their first-half attempts.

The Retrievers opened the lead back up to five points early in the second half, but a quick run by Edwards and McLemore helped UMaine regain the lead.

The Black Bears extended their lead to 10 with under 7 minutes left, but UMBC continued to chip away and brought the deficit down to one point with 49 seconds remaining.

The Black Bears failed to convert and the Retrievers went one-for-two from the free-throw line to send the game into overtime. McLemore tipped in a missed shot to pull the game to within one with 10 seconds left and proceeded to foul.

UMBC missed both free-throw attempts and senior guard Raheem Singleton made both of his after getting fouled. The Retrievers missed a buzzer-beater attempt for the win, and the Black Bears grabbed their third win in a row.

Edwards added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists in an effort that earned him the title of America East Rookie of the Week for the sixth time this season.

The Black Bears host the University of Vermont today in the Pit at 7 p.m. before traveling to Boston University on Thursday.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 6th, 2012, 1:10 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.

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