The Maine women’s basketball team bounced back for a win on the road Saturday after their first conference loss on Wednesday, while the men’s team blew a big lead for the second straight time in dropping a conference home contest.
In the women’s game, Blanca Millan scored a game high 20 points as Maine won for the first time since the 2015-16 season at Island Federal Arena at Stony Brook, New York with a 68-54 America East win.
Maine led all but 2:55 in the game in improving to 12-7 overall, 5-1 in America East. The Stony Brook Seawolves brief advantages came in the first and second quarters before the Bears took a 38-32 halftime advantage. Dor Saar extended that late in the third quarter to 56-48 with a three pointer, and then a 6-0 run to start the fourth made it 62-48. Maine led by as many as 16 and now will enjoy a week off before their next game.
Millan added five rebounds to her point total. Saar had 15 points. Fanny Wadling was huge on the glass again, putting in 14 points and grabbing 15 boards. Oksana Gouchie-Provencher had 15 points for the 14-4, 3-2 Seawolves, while India Pagan added 14 points. Maine returns home to host Binghamton next Sunday.
In the men’s game in Bangor at the Cross Insurance Center, Maine led visiting Stony Brook by 16 at the half but the Seawolves rallied all the way back for a 64-61 win.
Terion Moss had 11 first half points, and the visiting Seawolves only shot 22 percent from the floor and 0-9 from the three point arc, as Maine took a 33-17 halftime lead.
The second half was a different story as Stony Brook shot 53 percent and knocked down 7-15 from three to push back into the game. The visitors tied it 47-47 with 8:33 left on a three pointer by Elijah Olaniyi, and took the lead on an Andrew Garcia foul shot 48 seconds later. The Seawolves eventually went up nine, before the Bears rallied to within four late. But Stony Brook knocked down 7-9 from the foul line down the final stretch in the last two minutes to win their sixth straight game and improving to 16-3, 4-0 America East. Maine is 3-17, 1-4.
Moss led Maine with 23 points and five rebounds. Sergio El Darwich added 16 points and seven rebounds. Olaniyi had 14 points for Stony Brook. Akwasi Yeboah had 12 points and seven rebounds. Also chipping in was Jeff Otchere with 11 points and six rebounds, and Miles Latimer with 10 points. Maine is at Binghamton next Saturday.
