Both the University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams continued their non-conference schedules Tuesday night, as the women hoped to extend to a four game win streak at Harvard, while the men were at home seeking their first victory of the season against Fordham.
At Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Massachusetts the Maine women’s team started off red hot with a huge first quarter, and then held off the Harvard Crimson 67-60 for their fourth consecutive win.
Blanca Millan who entered the game just 10 points away from 1,000 reached that very milestone in the first quarter, part of a 17 point first quarter for the sharp shooting guard on the strength of four three pointers giving Maine a 22-11 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Harvard (4-5) got within three late in the second quarter, but the Bears still held a 33-27 lead at the half. Maine extended the lead back to 11 on a Maddy McVicar three pointer in the third quarter at 44-33, before the Crimson got it back down to four with a 9-2 run to end the quarter. The Bears pushed it back to a nine point lead early in the fourth on a Tanesha Sutton hoop, and Harvard never got closer than six the rest of the way.
Millan finished with a season high 26 points, four rebounds, and two steals for 6-2 Maine. Dor Saar added 11 points and nine assists. McVicar had a career high 10 points with the help of 3-4 shooting from the three point arc. The Black Bears hit 10-24 from the arc, two days after tying a school record going 16-33 at North Carolina Sunday. Jaydyn Bush had 15 points, Sydney Skinner 13, and Maggie McCarthy 11 points for Harvard. Maine went 4-1 on the five game road trip and will return home to the Cross Insurance Center Saturday in Bangor to host Brown with tipoff at 1 pm.
At the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Andrew Fleming had a career high 29 points as the Maine men’s team went double overtime to pick up their first victory 75-68 over Fordham.
Fordham (6-2) jumped on the home Black Bears early taking a 17-6 lead, but Maine responded ending the first half on a 17-7 run to cut the deficit to just 24-23 at halftime. The hosts took their first lead on an early second half dunk by Isaiah White, and had their biggest lead of seven when Celio Araujo hit a three pointer with 8:08 to go. Maine still led by six points with just 2:04 left, but the Rams of Fordham would score eight of the last 10 points of regulation including two free throws from Jalen Cobb with one second to play to send it to overtime. Down three in the overtime, the Black Bears Vincent Eze sent the game to another extra session scoring on a dunk with 33 seconds left, and then hitting 1-2 from the line with 11 seconds showing on the clock to extend the game tied at 63-63. Maine (1-8) would control double overtime after Cobb opened it up with a three pointer for Fordham to give the visitors a 66-63 lead. A Sergio El Darwich layup and a 10-10 effort from the foul line in the second extra session would push Maine to their first win of the season, scoring 12 of the final 14 points in the game.
Fleming added 12 rebounds to his career high and game high point total. White had 10 points, Eze added nine points and eight rebounds, while Vilgot Larsson chipped in eight points. Cobb led Fordham with 18 points, Nick Honor had 16, and Jesse Bunting added 12 points, nine rebounds, and two steals. Maine shot 53 percent from the floor in the game, while FU was only 38 percent. The Bears won the rebounding edge 33-31, despite being beaten 10-1 on the offensive glass. The hosts also committed 23 turnovers, to just 10 for the Rams leading to an 18-5 advantage for Fordham on points off turnovers. The Black Bears hit 21-27 from the foul line. Maine will be at Dartmouth Saturday at 1 pm at Hanover, New Hampshire.
