Miles Coleman had a team high 22 points on Sunday afternoon, as the New Jersey Institute of Technology beat the Maine Black Bears 91-83 in overtime at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono in America East men’s basketball action. It was the home conference opener for Maine, who stays winless in the league and lost their fifth consecutive game.
Maine (6-9, 0-2 America East) got off to a solid start scoring seven of the first nine points of the game on a three-pointer by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish, and layups by Kellen Tynes and Gedi Juozapaitis. The hosts later increased their advantage to 11 at 27-16 on another Wright-McLeish three-pointer with 9:42 left. NJIT ended the first half on a 6-0 run in the final minute to tie the game at 41-41 at the break on a three-point play by Adam Hess, and a three-pointer by Raheim Sullivan.
The Highlanders would build a nine point lead almost halfway through the second half after the game was tied by Maine 45-45 on a basket by Ada Turgut. NJIT used a 13-4 spurt over the next 5:06 to make it 58-49, capped off by a Mekhi Gray jumper with 11:21 left. Down by nine again with 9:54 remaining, the Black Bears made a run of their own to catapult back into the lead. Maine scored 21 of the next 27 points, and when Wright-McLeish hit two from the foul line they were up 73-67 with 2:53 showing on the clock. NJIT scored the next six points to tie it, before Tynes hit 1-2 from the line for a one point lead for the hosts. The Highlanders got a three-point play by Coleman, and then 1-2 from the line by Sullivan for a 77-74 lead with 23 seconds to go. After a timeout, coach Chris Markwood drew up a play. Wright-McLeish would take a pass from Jaden Clayton for a wide open three-pointer in the corner that was all net with a little less than 10 seconds left that would send the game into overtime. A three-pointer by Coleman opened the extra session, and NJIT never trailed. Maine couldn’t get much to go in the five minute period, and the Highlanders who had some struggles from the free throw in regulation would hit 9-10 at the stripe in overtime to leave Orono with their fourth win of the season and first in conference play.
Juozapaitis led all scorers in the loss for Maine with 26 points. Tynes had a double double with 24 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Wright-McLeish finished with 16 points (4 three-pointers). Coleman added six rebounds and four assists to his point total in the win for NJIT, who goes to 4-11 and 1-1 in America East. Gray and Kjell de Graff had 16 points each, and Hess ended up with 15 points and five rebounds. The Highlanders shot 6-18 from the line in regulation before the 9-10 in overtime that iced the victory. Maine will look to break their losing skid and record their first conference win on Wednesday night when they host UNH at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor at 7 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
