The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams were back at it Saturday afternoon after a couple days off for more non-conference action. The men’s team was on the road at Central Connecticut State, while the women would host Harvard.
At Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain, Connecticut Maines Nedeljko Prijovic blocked a last second three-pointer as the Black Bears nearly blew a 16 point second half lead to hold off the Blue Devils in men’s non-conference play 66-64.
After a back and forth first half where both teams held a slight lead, Maine (3-6) went on an 8-0 run to build a 19-10 lead that they later built to 16 at 36-20 on a Prijovic three-pointer. The Black Bears led by 12 at the half. Maine never let CCSU (0-9) closer than nine in the early stages of the second half, before Precious Okoh made it 16 again with a three-pointer with 15:21 to play. Down by 11 with 4:45 left the hosts made their run. A three-pointer from Myles Baker capped a 9-0 spurt to cut it to 63-61 with 1:49 to go. Two from the foul line by the Black Bears Peter Stamer made it four again with 21 seconds showing on the clock, but Baker nailed another three for the Blue Devils to cut it to one with 12 seconds left. Stumer then missed two at the line, but Fleming got the rebound and was fouled in which he missed the first but made the second for a two point advantage. With seven seconds remaining Baker went for the win but was blocked by Prijovic as time expired.
Fleming led the way with 18 points and four rebounds for Maine. Mykhailo Yagodin had 11 points, while both Prijovic and Vilgot Larsson had 10 each with eight and five rebounds respectively. Baker led Central Connecticut State with 15 points. Jamir Reed and Jamir Coleman both had 13 points, and Greg Outlaw added 11. The Black Bears return home for the first time since the home opener on November 6 when they welcome in Dartmouth on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
At the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, the Harvard Crimson put four players in double figures and rolled over the Maine Black Bears 69-40 in women’s non-conference action.
Maine (3-7) had one lead and it was early at 4-2 on a layup from Anne Simon. Harvard (7-3) took control after that and led by as many as 12 in the opening quarter. Simon would hit a three-pointer and a jumper early in the second to cut it to five, but that is as close as the Black Bears would be the rest of the day. The Crimson went on a 14-0 run to up the lead to 19 and led by 16 at the break. More of the same in the third as Harvard led by as many as 21, then scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to put the game away in what was the games biggest lead at 31 points.
Maine only shot 25% from the floor in the loss (14-55). The freshman guard Simon scored a career-high 13 points for the Bears, while Maddy McVicar had 11. Kelly Fogarty only had eight points on 3-7 shooting (2-5 from three-point) days after her record breaking 31 point, nine three-point game against Husson on Wednesday. Lola Mullaney was the games high scorer with 15 points for Harvard. Mackenzie Barta and Jeannie Boehm each had 14 points, with nine and five rebounds respectively. Maggie McCarthy also added 11 points and seven rebounds. Maine will be at Dartmouth on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
