The University of Maine men’s basketball team pulled off one of the bigger wins of recent memory on Monday night, knocking off ACC opponent Boston College 69-64 at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Maine (2-1) took a 2-0 lead on a layup on a fast break by Gedi Juozapaitis 1:42 into the game and would never trail. Chas Kelley III tied it 15-15 on a three-pointer for Boston College with 10:24 left in the first half, before the Black Bears went on a 14-3 run finished off by a three-pointer and layup from Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish to take an 11 point lead. The guests led by 10 with just 40 seconds left before the break, before the Eagles made two huge shots to slice into the margin. Mason Madsen make a three-pointer, and then in the final seconds Jaeden Zackery let one go from just inside halfcourt that went in and it was 34-30 at intermission.
Maine came out of the locker room to begin the second half by scoring the first seven points to push it back to 11. A three-pointer by Kristians Feierbergs, a layup by Jaden Clayton, and a two-point jumper by Feierbergs made up the 7-0 spurt. After Boston College got back within five at 47-42, the Bears had yet another answer with an 11-4 run for their biggest lead of the night 58-46 with 8:34 remaining. The Eagles kept pushing back and twice got within three points in the final 4:40. With the score sitting at 67-64 and after a turnover and then a foul on Maine, Makai Ashton-Langford missed the front end of a 1-1 from the foul line with 58 seconds left. In a wild sequence in the final 30 seconds, Clayton missed a layup for the Black Bears but Feierbergs grabbed the offensive rebound. Kellen Tynes then missed a driving layup in the lane, but then made a steal after the Eagles had grabbed the board. Boston College was forced to foul, and Juozapaitis would make both foul shots to clinch the win.
Tynes was huge all night in the win with his ability to drive the ball, rebounding, and his athleticism. He led Maine with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Peter Filipovity had 16 points and five rebounds, Wright-McLeish had 12 points, and Feierbergs rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and six rebounds. The Black Bears entered the game as 20.5 point underdogs, and is the biggest win for the program since they upset Penn State out of the Big 10 back in 2010. It is also a big win for first year head coach Chris Markwood, who was an assistant with BC last season. Ashton-Langford led Boston College in the loss with 18 points and seven rebounds. The Eagles fall to 2-1, shooting just 11-19 from the foul line in their first loss to an America East team since 2015. Maine returns home and will face Columbia University on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gymnasium (The Pit) in Orono.
