Bears roll past Hawks

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HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Maine outscored Hartford 23-9 at the start of the second half and rolled to a 66-54 men’s basketball victory over the Hawks in North Atlantic Conference action at The Sports Center Wednesday night.

The Bears blanked the Hawks 11-0 midway through the second half to gain their first-ever victory here in eight games.

The win also gave Black Bear head coach Rudy Keeling his most wins (14) at Maine in his four seasons and the most for the Black Bears since the ’83-84 season.

Maine is now 14-12 overall and 7-4 in the NAC, while Hartford slipped to 5-17 and 2-8, respectively.

Francois Bouchard paced the Bears with 19 points, Ed Jones put in 11, and Marty Higgins netted 10.

The Black Bears took an eight-point lead six minutes into the game, but the Hawks responded with six points from Vin Baker and four from Mike Bond to take a 28-24 halftime lead.

Maine came back strong, however, at the start of the second half, sparked by Bouchard’s 13 second-half points and Jones’ nine.

The Black Bears rolled up their lead to 55-44 with 4:46 left before the Hawks managed to whittle it back down to five a minute later.

Maine then responded in the final minutes, outscoring Hartford 11-4, including an 8-for-12 effort from the line.

Maine lost the services of forward Derrick Hodge, who sprained his ankle after seven minutes of action and didn’t return to the game. His status is questionable for Maine’s Saturday home game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Black Bears 66, Hawks 54

Maine men Hartford

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Hodge 5 1 0 0 2 Roderick 7 3 2 1 9

Bouchard 18 8 6 3 19 Pritikin 5 1 0 0 2

Marseille 1 1 0 0 2 Baker 28 7 7 4 19

Hursey 9 2 6 5 9 Spence 11 2 0 0 4

Higgins 7 2 7 6 10 Reilley 8 4 2 2 12

Hillman 3 1 0 0 2 Morhardt 1 0 0 0 0

Terrell 1 1 6 3 5 Stuckey 2 2 1 0 4

Kearson 5 2 0 0 4 Bond 5 2 0 0 4

Barnes 2 1 0 0 2

Jones 8 4 4 3 11

Doran 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 59 23 29 20 66 Totals 67 21 12 7 54

Maine 24 66

Hartford 28 54

3-pt. goals: Maine (0-4): Hodge 0-2, Higgins 0-3; Hartford (5-23): Roderick 2-5, Pritikin 0-1, Baker 1-11, Spence 0-3, Reilly 2-4