The Maine Black Bears rallied from a 14 point second half deficit to cut it to two late, but couldn’t come all the way back as the New Hampshire Wildcats held on for a 57-51 America East men’s basketball win at Ludholm Gym in Durham, New Hampshire Wednesday night.
After UNH opened the game on a three-pointer by Josh Hopkins, Maine would take an early lead scoring the next eight points for a five point advantage. Jayden Martinez hit a jumper in the paint with 10:46 left in the first half to put the Wildcats back ahead for good. Sean Sutherlin had an emphatic dunk on a fastbreak with eight seconds left to give UNH a 32-22 lead at halftime.
A three-pointer by Hopkins and a two point jumper from Hopkins gave UNH a 14 point lead on two different occasions, the second shot with 11:58 left to play. Maine (4-12, 0-2 America East) would then make their run. A layup in the paint by Sergio El Darwich capped off a 15-4 run to cut it to 45-42. After Hopkins made it six with another three-pointer, Andrew Fleming answered with one of his own to make it three again with 5:29 to go. El Darwich got the Black Bears as close as they had been since the 8:31 mark of the first half when he knocked down a three to make it 50-48 with 3:29 left. A three-pointer by Nick Guadarrama, a layup by Chris Lester, and two late free throws from Hopkins though would ice the win for the Wildcats.
Fleming led Maine with 14 points and four rebounds. El Darwich was the only other double digit scorer finishing with 11 points. Peter Stumer and Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish both played solidly off the bench, with seven and six points respectively. Hopkins led UNH with 16 points and five rebounds. Lester had 14 points and seven rebounds. Sutherlin also contributed nine points and nine rebounds. The Wildcats improve to 8-7, 1-1 America East. Maine will be at Albany on Saturday at 3 p.m.
