The four game win steak for the Maine men’s basketball team was snapped on Monday night. The University of Central Florida Knights built a 23-point halftime lead, and rolled to that same margin of victory 74-51 at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.
Maine had three very brief one point leads over the first 4:23 of the first half, before Central Florida took over. The Knights outscored the Black Bears 33-10 over the final 14:18 to take a commanding 41-18 halftime lead. Maine only shot 26% (7-27) in the opening 20 minutes (1-9 three-pointers), while UCF went 52% and hit 4-7 from behind the arc. The hosts would lead by as many as 32 in the second half, improving to 7-3 on the season and putting 10 players in the scorebook.
Logan Carey led Maine (8-5) with nine points and seven rebounds, as no Black Bear players would reach double figures. Peter Filipovity added eight points and eight rebounds, Quion Burns had seven, while Jaden Clayton and Kristians Feierbergs each had six points. They would end up shooting 34% for the game, and 1-19 from three-point range in the loss. AJ Lopez also saw action for the first time since suffering an injury on November 18, scoring five points in 23 minutes. Darius Johnson led the University of Central Florida with 16 points. Also scoring in double figures was Jaylin Sellers and Marchelus Avery who had 13 and 12 points respectively. The Knights are a first year member of the Big 12 Conference. Maine stays in Florida and will take on Florida International University on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
