Vilgot Larsson scored a game high 23 points, and Sergio El Darwich added 18 on Sunday afternoon as the Maine Black Bears won consecutive conference games for the first time is over three years and won a second straight game for first time in just over two seasons by defeating the UNH Wildcats 62-53 in America East men’s basketball action at the Cross Insurance Center.
A back and forth first half saw UNH jump out to an 8-0 lead, before Maine responded with a 13-0 run including three 3-pointers from Larsson. The teams continued to swap the lead before the Black Bears took their biggest lead of six and held a 27-23 halftime lead. More of the same in the second half as the hosts increased the margin to six once again with 10:26 left, but the Wildcats came marching back and took their final lead on consecutive 3-pointers by David Watkins, Marque Maultsby, and another one by Watkins to make it 48-45 with 8:11 left to play. A pair of jumpers by Maines Vincent Eze pushed the Bears back into the lead about a minute later, as down the stretch the hosts finished the game on a 17-5 run to grab the win.
Larsson shot 8-13 from the floor (4-7 three pointers) and grabbed six rebounds to help the Black Bears to victory. El Darwich grabbed four rebounds, had four assists, two blocks, and three steals to help the cause as well to go along with his point total. UNH was led by Jordan Reed who had 18 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Watkins finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Maine shot 47 percent from the floor, while holding UNH to 32 percent. The Wildcats stayed in the game with the three point shooting, hitting 13-33 while Maine was 4-15. The Bears improved their record to 5-18 overall, 3-5 America East. UNH falls to 3-18, 1-7. Maine travels to first place Vermont Wednesday to battle the Catamounts at 7 pm.
