BANGOR- Anthony Henson scored a game high 22 points on Monday afternoon, as the Paul Smiths College Bobcats held on for a 91-81 men’s Yankee Small College Conference basketball win over the University of Maine-Augusta Moose at the UMA Bangor Campus Fitness Center.
UMA (4-13, 3-3 YSCC) held an early five point lead at 9-4, before Paul Smiths College went on a 9-2 run to take the lead for good on a Henson layup 6:26 into the first half. The Bobcats built their advantage to the biggest of the day at 19 on a jumper by Eddie Kwaw with 5:25 to go. The Moose sliced that margin to nine on a layup by Isreal Brown, but the visitors scored the last five points and led 49-35 at the halftime break.
A layup by Jalaughn Jackson got UMA within seven at 51-44 about three minutes into the second half, before the Bobcats tried to pull away again with a 17-6 spurt getting a three-pointer from Henson 3:16 later to make it 68-50 with 13:50 to play. The Moose made one more run at it with some full court pressure that forced some turnovers from Paul Smiths, and Jackson hit two from the line to cap off a 27-12 surge to make it a three point game at 80-77 with 2:35 remaining. Henson made the biggest shot of the game with another three-pointer 29 seconds later to push it back to six, and the Bobcats hit 6-6 from the line in the last 44 seconds to ice the win. Paul Smiths College improves to 4-10, 3-6 in conference play.
Elijah Smith led the University of Maine-Augusta in the loss with 16 points. Eric Crawford had 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Trevor Beals contributed 13 points and five rebounds, while Fraser McDonald chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds. Along with the game high 22 points from Henson, Cameron Fuller Jr. had 16 points, Kenny Smith had 14, while Elijah Pratt and Kwaw had 13 points a piece for Paul Smiths College. Fuller Jr. added 10 rebounds, while Smith also had 10 rebounds to go along with five assists and five steals. Next up for the Moose is a non-conference matchup with UMaine-Fort Kent on Wednesday night at the Augusta Civic Center. UMA is coached by former Orono High School head coach and former director of basketball operations at the University of Maine, Jason Coleman.
