The Maine Black Bears put five players in double figures, building an 18 point second half lead and would hold on to the defeat the Albany Great Danes 81-73 in America East men’s basketball action at the Pit inside Memorial Gymnasium in Orono Thursday night.
It was a closely contested first half, and both teams held a lead. Maine got off to a quick 10-3 lead in the first four minutes, before Albany fought back and took their first lead of the evening 12-10 on a layup by Muneer Newton to cap off a 9-0 run. The Great Danes led by as many as four, but Kristians Feierbergs was big off the Black Bears bench as he dropped 14 points in the opening 20 minutes (4-4 three-pointers) helping his team take a 38-34 lead into halftime.
Maine came out on fire in the second half, spreading the scoring around and a three-pointer by AJ Lopez extended the advantage to 67-49 with 9:27 left. Albany had some fight left however. The Great Danes went on a run of 19-4 to cut it to 71-68 on a fastbreak dunk by Amar’e Marshall after a Black Bears turnover by Kellen Tynes with 3:13 remaining. Ny’Mire Little also had eight points during the spurt. The hosts were able to hold on down the stretch on a layup by Peter Filipovity, and also free throws from Jaden Clayton, Tynes, and Filipovity to win their second straight conference game.
Filipovity led all scorers in the Maine win with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Feierbergs finished with 16 points, Tynes had 15, and both Clayton and Lopez put in 10 points. The Black Bears improve to 10-10 and 2-3 in America East. Albany had four players in double figures in the loss as Sebastian Thomas had 20 points, Marshall 15, Jonathan Beagle 14, and Little 10 points. Beagle also hauled in 14 rebounds. The Great Danes drop to 10-10 and 2-3 in the conference. Maine plays at home again on Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor against Binghamton at 2 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
Maine men’s basketball looks to play some defense in a game earlier this season against Merrimack in Orono. The Black Bears put five players in double figures Thursday night to win their second straight America East contest 81-73 over Albany. Photo by Chris Lessner
