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ORONO – No matter what you use as a unit of measurement – whether it’s 15 days, or five games, or 58 shots, or 45 misses – Huggy Dye has been living a basketball nightmare of late.
His mom told him to stick with it. His coach told him to keep shooting. And his body English told everyone else that five games of jump shots clanging off metal had taken their toll on the University of Maine basketball star.
On Sunday afternoon, Huggy Dye got to smile again.
The 6-foot-2 guard hit 13 of his first 15 shots, finished up 14-for-18 and scored a career-high 35 points as his Black Bears dispatched New Hampshire 108-93 in front of 2,663 fans at Alfond Arena.
UMaine improved to 12-4, 5-2 in America East. UNH dropped to 4-11, 3-3.
“I took the same shots,” said Dye, who said he’d been taking extra shooting practice all week after connecting at a 22.4 percent clip during his slump. “Today they were just going in. I guess it was one of those days where they go in.”
And in … and in … and in.
Dye began the game with a miss, but was perfect for the rest of the half – a string of six makes in a row – en route to 17 points before intermission. Then, after missing his first attempt of the second half, Dye made seven more in a row. He didn’t miss two consecutive shots until only 3:40 remained in the UMaine win.
UMaine coach John Giannini said he knew Dye would snap out of his slump soon enough … and had an inkling it might happen on Sunday.
“I told [UNH coach] Phil Rowe before the game, ‘Huggy’s been down, and if he’s down he might not be that productive. But he could also score 34 tonight,'” Giannini said. “It’s interesting. I was off by one point.”
Dye got plenty of help, as the Bears nearly set a school record for field goal percentage in the game. They finished up by making 35 of 51 attempts (68.6 percent). The record is 70.0 percent, set against Delaware State in 1981.
Carvell Ammons added 20 points and 11 rebounds for UMaine while Derrick Jackson scored 14 and Errick Greene tallied 13 and handed out six assists. Rickey White scored 11 in 15 minutes of action.
New Hampshire got 20 points from Assane Faye, 13 from Anthony Oglesby, 12 from Allen Gould and 11 from Brett LeFlem.
The Bears earned the win despite giving up 93 points and allowing the Wildcats to pull down 26 offensive rebounds.
The ‘Cats made things interesting, substituting five fresh players at a time every three minutes, then pressing the Bears unmercifully.
The ploy succeeded in increasing the tempo of the game, but resulted in plenty of transition layups for UMaine. No Wildcat played more than 22 minutes, but 12 played more than 10 minutes.
Rowe said he switched to the new system after two consecutive halves of basketball during which his team didn’t play hard. He unveiled the tactic against Vermont on Wednesday.
“The matchups are a little wacky at times, for the opponents, and for us,” admitted Rowe, whose tallest starter stood 6-2. “I really don’t care. What happened today was exactly what I hope will happen: We played very, very hard, made Maine make possessions count, and they did.”
The Bears trailed 7-0 before rallying and building a first-half lead that peaked at 13 points.
Maine maintained control of the game for much of the second half, but UNH did pull within two points at one juncture.
But after reeling off six straight points with one platoon, eliminating a nine-point lead and making it 74-72 on two Faye free throws, Rowe put in another group at the 11:01 mark. Maine promptly took over.
Dye scored six of Maine’s points in a 7-0 run, and UNH never got within seven points again.
New Hampshire star Austin Ganly, who played at Maine’s Greely High, entered the game as the second-leading scorer in America East, managed just one attempt and did not score. He played 10 minutes. Rowe said his star has been nursing a sprained ankle, then banged his knee in practice on Saturday. He also banged his shooting elbow during the game and wore a bandage on it.
“It’s too bad,” Rowe said. “I really wish the people in Maine could have seen today how Austin has grown as a basketball player.”
Black Bears 108, Wildcats 93
New Hampshire (4-11) Maine (12-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Donahue 0 4 3 7 3 Dunkley 1 2 5 7
LeFlem 5 11 0 5 11 Greene 5 9 3 13
Oglesby 6 10 1 1 13 Jackson 3 4 7 14
Dulea 1 2 1 2 3 Dye 14 18 3 35
Collette 3 4 1 2 9 Ammons 5 9 10 14 20
Bullock 0 1 0 0 0 Cavalieri 1 3 2
Ganly 0 1 0 2 0 Haynes 2 2 0 6
Brown 2 6 2 2 7 White 4 4 3 11
Faye 6 9 7 7 20
Senulis 2 7 2 2 7
Marquardt 3 7 2 2 8
Peterson 0 1 0 0 0
Gould 5 16 1 1 12
Totals 33 79 20 28 93 Totals 35 51 31 39 108
New Hampshire 50 93
Maine 58 108
3-pt. goals: New Hampshire (7-20): LeFlem 1-5, Oglesby 0-1, Dullea 0-1, Collette 2-2, Bullock 0-1, Ganly 0-1, Brown 1-2, Faye 1-1, Senulis 1-2, Gould 1-4; Maine (7-15): Dunkley 0-1, Jackson 1-2, Dye 4-7, Ammons 0-1, Cavalieri 0-2, Haynes 2-2
Attendance 2,663
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