The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams played against New Jersey Institute of Technology on Sunday in a pair of America East games, and the Highlanders would end up sweeping the afternoon over the Black Bears.
In Bangor at the Cross Insurance Center, the NJIT women’s team continued their surprising early play in conference action with a 67-59 overtime win over Maine in the Black Bears America East home opener.
The Highlanders led the entire first quarter and 12-8 after the first 10 minutes. The Black Bears took their first lead of the first half by one point on two different occasions in the second quarter, but a 7-0 NJIT run pushed the guests back in front by as many as eight and 29-23 at the halftime break. After falling down by eight again early in the third, the hosts used an 11-3 run to tie it 36-36 on a Maeve Carroll layup in the paint. A three point play by Anne Simon had Maine ahead 44-41 headed to the fourth quarter. The Bears made it 48-41 with 9:31 remaining on a Simon layup off a fast break. A 7-0 spurt by the Highlanders tied it back up just 3:11 later. Maine was clinging to a 57-53 advantage with 2:21 to go, before a pair of jumpers by Kenna Squier the second of which with 43 seconds left would once again tie it. Alba Orois would miss an opportunity to give the Black Bears the lead with 15 seconds showing on the clock, and the Highlanders on the other end couldn’t get off a final shot before the buzzer sounded forcing the game into overtime. Aria Ayers took over in the extra session scoring the first five points, and Squier hit 4-4 from the line as NJIT outscored Maine 10-2 and improved to 2-0 in America East after defeating preseason favorite Stony Brook in their opener on Thursday.
Simon led Maine in the loss with 19 points and four rebounds before fouling out just over halfway through the fourth quarter. Carroll finished with 16 points and seven rebounds and also fouled out in overtime. Orois added 15 points and four assists. Maine falls to 4-8 overall, 1-1 in America East. Squier had a game high 24 points and eight rebounds for NJIT, while Ellyn Stoll had 16 points (4-7 three-pointers). The Highlanders are now 7-6, 2-0 in AE. Maine is scheduled to play at Hartford on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
At the NJIT Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey, the Maine men’s team led by as many as seven twice in the second half before NJIT bolted ahead with a 12-4 run to take a 69-66 victory in the America East opener for both teams.
After falling behind very early on 7-2, the Black Bears took their first lead of the day 14-11 on a three-pointer by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish with almost eight minutes gone in the first half. After NJIT went up by four, the guests scored the final five points of the opening 20 minutes to take a 33-29 advantage to the halftime break. Maine led by seven on two different occasions over the first 8:32 of the second half, before NJIT used that 12-4 run finished off by a Miles Coleman jumper in the paint to push them ahead 51-50 with 6:54 left and the Highlanders never trailed again. Vukasin Masic pulled the Bears within 68-66 with a three-pointer with 10 seconds to go, and after Antwaun Butler converted on 1-2 from the line Masic had another three-point try for the tie at the buzzer but came up empty.
Sam Ihekwoaba led Maine in the loss with 18 points and six rebounds. Wright-McLeish added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Byron Ireland also got into double figures with 11. The Black Bears are now 3-9, 0-1 in America East. Coleman led NJIT in the victory with a game high 23 points and 10 rebounds. The Highlanders improve to 6-5, 1-0 in AE. Maine had their game scheduled for Wednesday night at Hartford postponed due to COVID concerns within the Hawks program, and will next be in action next Saturday on Long Island against Stony Brook at 2 p.m.
