Hunter Marks nailed a three-pointer with two seconds left Saturday afternoon, leading the Hartford Hawks to a 63-60 win over the Maine Black Bears in the America East men’s basketball opener at West Hartford, Connecticut. The game was also the first of the season for the Black Bears.
A close one early on, as neither team would take more than a five point lead over the first 10 minutes or so of action. Hartford (4-2, 1-0 America East) would go on a run though and took the biggest lead of the day at 30-15, and led 31-20 at halftime. No quit though in Maine as they used a 14-0 run after falling down by 13 early in the second half. A three-pointer by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish gave the Black Bears the lead 36-35 for the first time since it was 2-0. The Hawks took back the lead and increased it to six 54-48 with a mini 5-0 spurt with just under five minutes left. Another 9-0 answer by the guests capped off by a three-pointer from Adefolalrin Adetogun and two from the line from LeChaun DuHart, would make it 57-54 Maine with 2:07 showing on the clock. A three-pointer each way from the Hawks Michael Dunne and the Bears Stephane Ingo kept it a three point difference. Hartford would tie it at 60 when Marks hit a three with 46 seconds remaining. A miss at the line by Vilgot Larsson on the front end of a one and one gave the hosts the ball back with 17 seconds left. Hartford nearly lost the ball out of bounds in the closing seconds, but saved it in and found Marks on the left wing for the game winning shot. Maine (0-1, 0-1) had one more chance after a timeout and 2.1 seconds remaining, but Larsson would miss a long three short as the buzzer sounded.
Adetogun led Maine in the loss with 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals. DuHart had 13 points, four assists, and two steals. Ingo added eight points and 10 rebounds, while Larsson had six points and five rebounds. The Black Bears shot 43% from the floor, and 9-31 from three-point range (7-14 in second half) but only 3-8 from the foul line. Traci Carter had 15 points and six rebounds, and Marks ended with 11 points in the win for Hartford who wins their fourth consecutive game. The two teams meet again Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the second game of the newly adopted America East two game series.
