March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Bears hit 100 for third time UMaine defeats Panthers

AUGUSTA – The University of Maine men’s basketball team reached the century mark for a school-record third consecutive game here Thursday night.

The down side for Coach Rudy Keeling and Co. is, the University of Central Florida also came pretty close to hitting the 100-point mark.

The Black Bears withstood a furious second-half charge by the Golden Panthers and hung on for a 101-97 victory in front of 1,492 fans at the Augusta Civic Center.

Coach Kirk Speraw’s Central Florida crew trailed 80-55 with 10:40 remaining, but outscored Maine 40-21 the rest of the way to make the Bears earn it.

“I think what happened was we became complacent,” said Maine sophomore Chris Collins. “We were happy with the 20-some-point lead and we can’t do that. Coach Keeling said if we’re going to be a great team, we’re going to have to build on our lead. We can’t be winning the game by 20 and win it by five, we have to win it by 30.”

Casey Arena and Francois Bouchard combined for 55 points to spark Maine to its fourth win in seven outings. Arena tossed in a career-high 28 points, including 16 in the second half, to help Maine hold the Golden Panthers at bay.

Ochiel Swaby was the catalyst for Central Florida, scoring 17 points during the late comeback. Swaby, who finished with a game-high 29 points, converted on a conventional 3-point play with 2:39 left and Darryl Davis came back with an 18-footer 37 seconds later as the Panthers moved to within five at 95-90.

However, Bouchard answered for Maine, taking a wrap-around pass from Arena on the low block and scoring to push the lead back to seven with 1:48 to play.

“We had a nice crowd and we figured let’s keep the crowd happy, we don’t want to win by 20, let’s make it close,” Keeling quipped. “I thought we played a great 30 minutes and then we started celebrating a little bit too early and let it get away from us a little bit.”

Central Florida found an opening at the 9:12 mark, with Maine leading 81-61. Arena was called for a technical foul, which helped the Panthers peel off a 6-0 run that became part of a 12-1 rally.

The visitors continued to peck away at the Bears’ lead, but Arena and Bouchard countered with enough scoring to make up for Maine’s lackluster defense down the stretch.

“They got hot and we fouled them,” Keeling said. “Even with them getting hot, if we hadn’t fouled them, then they couldn’t have stayed in the game. The clock kept stopping.”

Maine had a tougher time getting Bouchard into the offense during the second half, with the Panthers doubling down on the big man and forcing the Bears to look elsewhere.

Arena complemented his scoring output with six assists, while Bouchard added eight rebounds to his 10-for-13 floor shooting. Collins was outstanding for Maine, contributing 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Deonte Hursey tossed in 12 points, while Ken Barnes and Ed Jones gave the Bears a strong inside presence.

Swaby added 10 rebounds for the Panthers, while Patrick Butts netted 16 points, Darryl Davis 14, Victor Saxton 11, and James Walker 10.

Maine made the Golden Knights play catchup while getting their defense clicking halfway through the first half. Bouchard had the hot hand for the Bears, scoring nine points amidst a 17-5 flurry that turned a 26-25 lead into a 43-30 advantage with 4:22 remaining in the half.

The Bears went with a 3-2 zone in the half-court, which effectively bottled up the middle and kept sufficient pressure on the Knights’ perimeter shooters.

Arena kicked off the first-half run with a 10-foot jumper at the 10:09 mark. After UCF’s Swaby hit a 15-foot turnaround shot, Arena answered with a nifty driving scoop shot from the lane.

Bouchard followed with a 3-pointer, then buried an 18-footer to give Maine a 35-27 lead at the 8:30 mark.

The Bears capitalized on the third UCF turnover in a little more than a minute when Hursey fired in a 13-footer from the paint. Hursey added a pretty reverse layup off a baseline drive to make it 39-27 with 6:44 left in the half.

Black Bears 101, Knights 97

Central Florida Maine men

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

Swaby 17 10 8 7 29 Hursey 16 6 0 0 12

Walker 6 4 2 2 10 Arena 14 9 8 7 28

Davis 14 6 0 0 14 Collins 10 5 6 3 13

Phillips 5 2 2 1 6 Barnes 3 2 9 5 9

Saxton 7 3 6 5 11 Bouchard 13 10 8 5 27

Portee 3 0 0 0 0 Soucy 1 0 0 0 0

Butts 13 6 1 1 16 Schmidt 0 0 0 0 0

Foster 5 1 2 1 3 Hunt 3 3 1 0 6

Roberts 2 1 2 2 4 E.Jones 4 2 0 0 4

Ketteler 2 2 0 0 4 R.Jones 1 0 5 2 2

Totals 74 35 23 19 97 Totals 65 37 37 22 101

Central Florida 37 97

Maine 51 101

3-pt. goals: Central Florida (8-for-22): Butts 3-6, Swaby 2-5, Davis 2-5, Phillips 1-4, Portee 0-2; Maine (5-for-10): Arena 3-5, Bouchard 2-2, Hursey 0-2.


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