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ORONO – For much of the first half of Saturday night’s exhibition contest, the Connecticut Diamonds chased the University of Maine’s Terry Hunt around the Alfond Arena hardwood, reminding each other to keep track of the “shooter.”
Hunt, after all, was busy raining in jumpers, scoring 18 of his 20 points before the break and hitting three 3-pointers.
But before the Diamonds finished on the short end of a 64-61 overtime loss to the Black Bears, the collection of former college players found out an important thing.
While Hunt may be the scorer, there’s only one guy you can call “the” shooter for the Bears. And while Hunt was the key in giving the Bears a lead that peaked at 17 points, that man – 5-foot, 10-inch sophomore John Gordon – did the Diamonds in down the stretch.
After struggling through a 1-for-6 second half, Gordon erupted for the first seven Bear points in OT to give UMaine the win in front of 2,661 fans.
Gordon said his late heroics were just a matter of him making shots he’d seen all night.
“It was just in the flow of things. Coach always stresses to get me the ball in a spot where I can shoot,” Gordon said.
“Finally, at the end of the game, when I really needed to, I started knocking them down.”
Gordon, who finished with 17 points, started the Bears off in OT with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, then staked them to a 60-55 lead when he hit a leaner in traffic from 12 feet, drawing a foul in the process.
But after he missed the free throw, the Diamonds answered again, getting a put-back from Murray Williams and two free throws from Greg Keith. That made it 60-59 with 44.9 seconds left.
But Gordon answered again for the Bears, nailing a 14-footer as the shot buzzer sounded with 10 seconds left. After an errant long-range bomb by the Diamonds, Dade Faison made a pair of free throws to provide the final margin.
The Black Bears sent it to overtime when senior guard Ramone Jones made a steal at midcourt and cruised in for a dunk with 1:04 left that made it 54-54.
Maine coach John Giannini said Hunt’s big first half got the Bears started right, but the second half, during which Maine gave up the 17-point lead and trailed by four, was most impressive.
“[Hunt] came out with tremendous intensity tonight and put some points up, but even more importantly gave his team a big emotional lift,” Giannini said.
“The other great thing about tonight was our persistence, withstanding runs, coming back from behind.”
Jones finished with 14 points and four assists for Maine, while Hunt grabbed nine rebounds. Allen Ledbetter had 10 rebounds.
Phil Lott had 18 points and eight boards for Connecticut, while Keith had 14 and Murray Williams added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Hunt and Gordon both said the game was important for the Bears mentally.
“It’s good because it basically shows us that we’re a good team, that we went against some good talent and were able to compete,” Hunt said. “We were able to get out to a big lead, and when they came back we had enough character to stay right with them.”
“I think it’s important that this early in the season we’re going through clutch situations,” Gordon said. “Even if you go over it at practice it’s not like the real thing.”
Bears 64, Diamonds 61 (OT)
Connecticut Maine
Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP
Morrison 0 0 0 0 0 Gordon 7 16 0 1 17
Williams 3 12 2 5 10 Thibodeau 0 1 0 0 0
Lott 8 25 1 2 18 Hunt 7 16 2 3 20
Yates 2 5 2 2 6 Thompson 0 0 0 0 0
Lancaster 2 15 0 0 5 Faison 0 4 4 4 4
Gittens 1 5 4 5 6 Jones 4 10 5 8 14
Hurrye 1 3 0 0 2 Thomas 0 3 0 0 0
Keith 5 7 4 4 14 Long 2 4 0 0 4
James 0 0 0 0 0
Ledbetter 1 6 3 4 5
Totals 22 72 13 18 61 Totals 21 60 14 20 64
Connecticut 25 55 61
Maine 39 55 64
3-pt. goals: Connecticut (4-28): Williams 2-5, Lott 1-10, Lancaster 1-11; Maine (8-24): Gordon 3-10, Thibodeau 0-1, Hunt 4-9, Faison 0-1, Jones 1-3
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