Rowe sparks Bears Hadjisotirov sharp in debut

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Head coach John Giannini still doesn’t have the entire roster at his disposal, but the University of Maine men’s basketball team is starting to fill out nicely.

The Black Bears rebounded from a tough Sunday loss with a solid 87-71 victory against David Lipscomb College in the Dr. Pepper Classic consolation game Monday night in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Maine, now 5-7 with a third win in its last four games, enjoyed a solid debut from Boston College transfer guard Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov, who scored 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 3-for-4 shooting from the line, and dominated the game from the outset.

Bears center Justin Rowe had another strong game with 15 rebounds, 12 points, and five blocked shots while senior forward Rickey White rebounded from a foul-plagued, two-point Sunday performance with 15 points. It was Rowe’s third double-double of the season.

“We had a lot of good performances out there tonight,” said Giannini.

The Bears’ offense was smoother as 17 assists were credited on their first 20 baskets.

“We were really pleased with the way we passed the ball today,” Giannini said. “And we really ran well today. We did run well the last two days and pushed the ball, even with only 63 points yesterday.”

Point guard Eric Dobson dished out a season-high eight assists in the game. Guards Kevin Reed (10 points) and Hadjisotirov had six and five assists, respectively.

Maine jumped out to a 32-13 lead on 3-for-7 3-point shooting and 14-for-24 shooting from the field overall. The Bears went into halftime with a 24-point lead before a Lipscomb flurry of 3-pointers midway through the second half and a 19-5 run got the Bison within 11.

Back-to-back 3’s by Thomas Hill and Hadjisotirov put Maine’s lead back up to 14 with 11:51 remaining and the Bears never really looked back.

Maine shot 50 percent from the field for the game and 41.7 percent from 3-point range to overcome a 7-for-16 effort at the line. Lipscomb was 37.1 percent from the field.

“Both games now, we’ve held teams under 40 percent from the field and that’s the magic number we look for,” Giannini said.

Maine outrebounded Lipscomb 25-20 and committed 16 turnovers to Lipscomb’s 14.

“It’s a strange combination,” said Giannini. “If we can get those free throws and keep our turnovers down, we’ll be a pretty good team.”

The Bison were led by Albert Hacker’s 23-point, eight-rebound effort. Russell Hankins went 5-for-5 from 3-point range and finished with 18 points.

BLACK BEARS 87, BISON 71

Maine (5-7) David Lipscomb (3-10)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Dobson 2 5 0 1 5 Roller 1 5 5

Reed 4 13 0 3 10 Schoen 0 6 2 2

Campbell 4 10 0 0 9 Broomfield 0 0

White 7 9 1 1 15 Hartman 2 3 4

Rowe 5 9 2 4 12 Jenney 1 4 0 2

Hadjisotirov 5 10 3 4 15 Robinson 0 1

Petkus 2 4 0 0 6 Poindexter 2 4

Hill 2 2 1 2 7 Hankins 5 7 3 18

Leavitt 0 0 0 0 0 Dancy 1 2 5

Brown 4 8 0 1 8 Mays 1 1 4

Hacker 9 16 5 23

Jarboe 1 5 0 3

Wilson 0 0 0 0

Totals 35 70 7 16 87 23 62 17 30 71

Maine 49 87

David Lipscomb 25 71

3-pt. goals: Maine (10-24): Hill 2-2, Hadjisotirov 2-3, Petkus 2-4, Reed 2-7, Dobson 1-2, Campbell 1-5, Brown 0-1; Lipscomb (8-20): Hankins 5-5, Dancy 1-1, Jarboe 1-3, Roller 1-4, Broomfield 0-2, Poindexter 0-2, Schoen 0-3

Attendance: not available