The University of Maine dropped their final road non-conference game of the season on Wednesday night as they fell 95-61 to Big 10 opponent Ohio State in men’s basketball action at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Maine (6-6) held one early lead 6-5 on a three-pointer by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish, but Ohio State took the lead back 30 seconds later and never trailed after that. The Black Bears were still hanging around down 22-15 with 12:51 left in the first half, and that is when the Buckeyes ended the opening 20 minutes on a 25-11 run to begin to pull away as the lead grew to 47-26 at the halftime break. The hosts scored the first seven points of the second half to push the advantage to 28, and would lead by as many as 36 to improve their record to 8-3.
Kellen Tynes led Maine in the loss with 19 points, while Gedi Juozapaitis had 16. Ohio State put five players in double figures as Brice Sensabaugh had 19 points and seven rebounds, Justice Sueing had 15 points, Zed Key 14, Bruce Thornton 11, and Felix Okpara rounded it out with 10 points. Sueing, Key, and Thornton also had six rebounds each as the Buckeyes outrebounded the Black Bears 39-27. The guests shot just 39% from the floor (24% from three-point), while OSU would shoot 61% (42% from long distance). Maine plays their final non-conference game of the season next Wednesday when they host Harvard at 7 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Recap written by Chris Lessner