Men’s Basketball

MAINE vs. TOWSON

Time, site: 5:30 p.m., Towson Center, Towson, Md.

Records: Maine 5-1 (0-0 America East), Towson 2-3 (0-0)

Series, last meeting: Maine leads 8-6, UM won 84-71 on Jan. 27

Key players: Maine – 6-10 F Julian Dunkley (20.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg), 6-2 G Huggy Dye (18.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg), 6-6 F Carvell Ammons (10.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg), 6-3 G Errick Greene (6.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg), 6-2 G Derrick Jackson (5.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg); Towson – 6-6 F Brian Barber (13.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg), 6-4 G/F Sam Sutton (13.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg), 5-11 G Brian Allen (11.8 ppg, 3.3 apg), 6-8 C Shaun Holtz (10.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg), 6-3 G Tamir Goodman (4.5 ppg, 3.5 apg)

Outlook: The Black Bears can’t afford to look beyond the Tigers to a Saturday night matchup with Delaware: Towson always plays tough at home. Barber is an efficient scorer who connects on 56 percent of his shots, but he isn’t a perimeter threat at all. Maine sixth man Colin Haynes will likely split time with Ammons on him, and the Bears will likely utilize a varied scheme of double-teams and traps to force Barber to make mistakes. Dunkley and Dye combined to make 14 of 20 3-point attempts in their last outing, and UMaine hopes for more of the same. … but Towson will counter with a typically stingy defense: UMaine has managed to make just nine of 41 3-point attempts in their last two trips to Towson combined.