The University of Maine men’s basketball team fell to Vermont on alumni day in a close battle of 65-51 on Feb. 15. The Black Bears came into the game 16-9 overall and 8-2 in America East play, the most wins since their 2010 to 2011 season.
Although the Catamounts had won the last 30-consecutive meetups with the Black Bears, Maine felt confident going into the game, having their best conference start in over 15 years. Furthermore, fourth-year guard AJ Lopez was announced as America East player of the week.
In the first half, third-year forward Keelan Steele got Maine on the scoreboard 15 seconds in with a layup, assisted by Lopez. Fourth-year guard Quion Burns added another layup to the scoreboard before the Catamounts got a three-pointer by graduate forward Nick Fiorillo. Five minutes into the contest, Vermont got the first free throws of the game, where third-year guard TJ Hurley made all three, putting the score at 11-4 for the Catamounts. In response, third-year forward Killian Gribben got the first dunk of the game assisted by graduate guard Kellen Tynes for Maine to close the gap of the scoreboard. Two minutes later, Tynes scored a three-pointer which got him to five points ten minutes into the game.
For the next five minutes of the first half, Maine lost their rhythm and shut down defensively, which made them fall behind by 15 points and put the Catamounts at a comfortable lead of 28-13 with about six minutes left of play. Maine slowly chipped away at the score difference for the next six minutes, full of hope that they could win the game. A crucial steal from third-year guard Jaden Clayton led to Maine scoring their second three-pointer of the night off a step back by Burns assisted by Lopez to end the half 28-22 for Vermont. Maine went into the second half with 15 rebounds and 14 points in the paint.
The atmosphere of The Pit going into the last 20 minutes of the game was full of energy and passion to get the Black Bears going. In the first 10 seconds, Vermont got on the scoreboard first and pushed the lead with a layup from fourth-year forward Ileri Ayo-Faleye and a split free throw from Hurley. It took a while for Maine to get on the scoreboard. Tynes got a driving layup five minutes into the game to make it 36-24. Still, the Catamounts were able to make it a game-high difference of 16 points with nearly fifteen minutes left of play. Seconds later, Burns and fourth-year forward Christopher Mantis got back-to-back three-pointers to get the team going and hoped to put the Bears back in the game.
Maine recovered their offensive rhythm, which closed the score to 44-35 with 10 minutes remaining. Burns and Lopez were once again able to find the bucket with three pointers. With an exciting four minutes left, the eight-point game turned into a five-point game where Maine could manage to make a comeback. The Black Bears were unable to come out with any points as Vermont took the victory of 65-61.
Tynes finished the game with 19 points and Burns was one rebound short of a double-double as he had 16 points and nine rebounds.
This game concluded Maine’s three-game home stretch, as their next match will be on the road against UAlbany on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
