The Maine men’s basketball team returned home for the first time since November 12th on Sunday afternoon. The Black Bears had four players score in double figures, and held off a second half rally by Brown University for a 60-49 non-conference win at the Pit in Memorial Gymnasium in Orono.
Maine only trailed once at 10-8 six minutes into the first half. With the score tied 11-11, the Black Bears went on a run of 8-0 over a span of about three minutes to take a lead they would never relinquish on a dunk and a three-pointer by Quion Burns and a three-pointer by Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish. The hosts would lead by as many as 16 and by 14 at the halftime break. Maine shot a sizzling 67% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, and 62.5% from the three-point arc (5-8).
Maine would cool off considerably in the second half (32%), and didn’t hit a three-pointer (0-6), allowing the visitors from Brown University to get back in the game. The Brown Bears used a 10-0 run capped off by a three-pointer by Aaron Cooley to slice it to 39-33 with 13:45 left to play. They trimmed it just two at 49-47 on a dunk by Nana Owusu-Anane with 5:00 to go. The Black Bears responded on jumpers by Jaden Clayton and Kellen Tynes and a layup by Peter Filipovity for a 6-0 spurt to push the advantage back to eight, and Brown never got closer than six after that.
Clayton led the way in the win with 15 points. Filipovity finished with 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Burns had 11 points and Tynes added 10. Burns and Tynes both chipped in four rebounds, while Tynes also had eight assists as Maine improves to 6-4. The Black Bears overall shot 48% from the field, 35.7% from three-point range, and 5-8 (62.5%) from the foul line. Owusu-Anane led Brown in the defeat with a double double registering 15 points and 11 rebounds. Kino Lilly Jr. also contributed 11 points, as the Bears out of the Ivy League drop to 2-8. Brown only shot the ball at 33% (18.8%, 3-16 from the three-point arc). Maine is back on the road on Wednesday night when they head to Boston University to take on the Terriers out of the Patriot League at 7 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
