The University of Maine men’s basketball team got a three-pointer by Gedi Juozapaitis with less than four seconds left in regulation to tie the game on Wednesday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, but ultimately would end up falling 74-73 in overtime to Harvard in the final non-conference matchup of the season for both teams.
Maine shot the ball poorly over the first 10 or so minutes of the opening half, but didn’t turn the ball over that allowed them to take as much as a five point lead at the 13:12 mark at 9-4. Harvard pushed back into the lead for the first time since the opening basket with 8:24 left at 17-15. The Crimson would lead by as many as six, before the Black Bears ended the final 3:53 on a 10-4 run capped off by a Kellen Tynes three-pointer to even the score 33-33 at the halftime break.
Harvard (9-5) would build back their six point lead twice in the second half at the 10:07 and 9:20 marks on layups by Idan Tretout and Chris Ledlum. Maine kept battling and got back even at 59 part of a 6-2 spurt on a three-pointer by Juozapaitis with 5:45 remaining. The teams went back and forth with scores over the next couple possessions, before Ledlum made it 63-61 Crimson with a layup with 1:40 to go. Kristians Feierbergs gave the Black Bears their final lead of the night with a three-pointer 15 seconds later. Tretout gave Harvard the lead back with a basket with 1:03 left, and then nailed two free throws for a 67-64 advantage with just 19 seconds showing on the clock. Ledlum then came up with a steal on an attempted back door pass by Juozapaitis, but after a foul would miss the front end of a 1 and 1 at the line to open the door for the game tying basket. Juozapaitis would drill the long distance three-pointer with just 3.9 seconds left after a timeout, sending the game to the extra session. In overtime, Harvard scored the first four points on a short jumper by Evan Nelson and two free throws by Ledlum. Maine got within one on a jumper from Juozapaitis and 1-2 from the line by Tynes. Sam Silverstein made the shot of the game that ended up as the game winner, swishing a three-pointer with 1:24 left. Juozapaitis did nail a really deep off balance three-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining, but after a foul there was only 0.7 seconds showing on the clock. Tretout missed the two free throws on the other end, but by the time Peter Filipovity grabbed the rebound he didn’t have any time to fire up a desperation shot for the Black Bears.
Juozapaitis led Maine in the loss with 19 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Tynes had 15 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Also getting into double figures was Feierbergs with 12 points and five rebounds, and Jaden Clayton with 10 points, four assists, and two steals. The Black Bears (6-7) took good care of the ball with just seven turnovers. Ledlum led all scorers in the Harvard win with 27 points and 15 rebounds. Tretout finished with 17 points. Maine begins America East play next Thursday night at 6 p.m. on the road at UMass-Lowell.
