The Maine men’s basketball team rallied to within two late in the second half on Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C., but would come up short in a 64-60 loss to Siena College in the Capital Thanksgiving Classic.
Maine never had a lead in the game, as Siena led by as many as 12 in the first half. After the Black Bears pulled within 25-23 on a Keelan Steele layup, the Saints ended the opening 20 minutes on an 11-2 run to push their advantage back to 11 at the break. After trailing by 15 in the second half, Maine would make a run of their own. A three-pointer by Logan Carey with 25 seconds remaining would cap off a 24-10 spurt to slice it to 61-60. With 18 seconds left, Justice Shoats missed the front end of a 1 and 1 at the line, but Siena grabbed the offensive rebound and Shoats was fouled again and made 1-2. Steele would miss the tying basket on the other end for the Black Bears, and Francis Folefac sank two free throws for the Saints to ice the win.
Gavin Doty led Siena (7-2) with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Shoats had 16 points, and Folefac added 12 points. Carey had a team-high 17 points for Maine, while also adding three steals. TJ Biel contributed 11 points and six rebounds, while Ryan Mabrey and Ace Flagg both chipped in seven points. Flagg also had six rebounds before fouling out late. The Black Bears went 7-15 at the foul line, and for the three game weekend they went a collective 29-59 at the charity stripe (49.2%). Maine is now 0-9 and continues non-conference play on the road when they head to Ohio to battle Ohio University on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Photo of Logan Carey courtesy of UMaine Athletics
