ORONO – Saturday, University of Maine Machias coach Matt Lash figured his men’s basketball team had its best chance for victory if they could contain a Jacksonville State’s talented backcourt. The Clippers did just that, but were torched by JSU’s forward rotation and lost.

Sunday, he had a different plan in mind against conference rival Husson College of Bangor but it was the Braves’ backcourt that did his Clippers in, 92-65.

“Coming into the game, we really tried to stress handling [6-foot-5 forward Randy] Fletcher. He’s killed us now for three years,” said Lash.

The strategy paid off somewhat as Fletcher managed just six points in the first half.

But Braves guards Ryan Rivera and Jason Harvey combined to shoot 8-for-15 from 3-point range and combined for 37 points.

“Yeah, I guess we’re just picking our poison right now,” Lash said with a chuckle.

Harvey and Rivera both got in a groove early by hitting a couple of deep perimeter shots.

“I think knocking down the first few shots really helped us get the shooting going and that helped us get our inside game working,” said Harvey, a freshman from Bucksport who had 18 points, four steals, and four assists.

The 5-2 Braves took a 23-8 lead, saw UMM score 11 unanswered points, and then all but put the game away with a 14-2 run that gave them a 20-point lead to start the second half.

“It was a good, solid 40 minutes for us and something I’m very happy heading into the break after,” said Husson coach Warren Caruso. “This game has conference ramifications, even though it’s a non-conference game for us.”

Both teams are NCAA Division III members of the Sunrise Conference, but the tournament game is considered non-conference play.

Both teams head into a two-week break with entirely different mindsets.

“I think we need the two weeks right now to regroup,” said Lash. “Right now we have a lack of mental discipline on the defensive end. We’re forcing shots and not getting good looks on the offensive end.”

Harvey and Rivera both felt like different players Sunday after being held to 13 points against Maine Saturday.

“Maine plays a lot of pressure defense and they have big guards, which isn’t something we see everyday, but we played harder and were a little more focused today,” said Rivera (19 points, seven boards, four assists). “Maine’s a big game, but this game is a conference type of game with ramifications down the road.”

Fletcher finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds while junior guard Dwayne Ailey scored 15 and dished out five assists.

Wayne Clarke led the 3-8 Clippers with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Gary Dussard had 11 points and Phillip Munro finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Rebounds and turnovers were almost dead even as each team had 47 boards and Husson committed 22 turnovers to UMM’s 21. The big difference came in shooting as Husson was 55.2 percent from the field and the Clippers were just 26.3.

BRAVES 92, CLIPPERS 65

UM-Machias (3-8) Husson (5-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Whittaker 0 0 0 0 0 Fletcher 5 14

Munro 4 10 2 6 10 Rivera 7 11 19

Dussard 4 12 3 5 11 Galley 2 4 4

Chujor 2 12 1 2 6 Ailey 6 12 15

Clarke 5 10 3 7 13 Harvey 6 12 18

Liburd 0 0 0 0 0 Zeikus 2 9 10

Garrett 1 4 0 0 3 Cunningham 0 1

Campbell 3 6 0 0 7 White 2 3 7

Sims 0 0 0 0 0 Wada 0 0 0 0

Midgley 0 2 4 6 4 Armenakis 2 4

Thornton 1 7 0 0 3

Miller 0 3 1 2 1

Footer 3 6 0 0 7

Totals 23 72 14 28 65 32 64 18 24 92

UM-Machias 28 65

Husson 45 92

3-pt. goals: UM-Machias (5-18): Garrett 1-4, Campbell 1-2, Chujor 1-2, Thornton 1-4, Footer 1-1, Whittaker 0-2, Dussard 0-1, Miller 0-1; Husson (10-25): Rivera 5-9, Harvey 3-6, Ailey 1-6, Zeikus 1-2, Cunningham 0-1, White 0-1