December 23, 2024
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Seawolves edge Black Bears in closing seconds Brown tries to spark UMaine

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Bridgton Academy alumnus D.J. Munir didn’t extend any hospitality to the visitors from Bridgton’s home state as he led Stony Brook University to a come-from-behind 81-79 America East basketball victory over the University of Maine men Sunday afternoon.

The 6-foot-3 junior guard scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Seawolves, who are 8-9 overall and 3-4 in America East.

Munir hit two of his three 3-pointers in a key, 19-second span late in the game to help the ‘Wolves boost a fragile 63-62 lead to 71-62 with 2:37 to play.

“He’s very hard to stop. He’s very quick, he can shoot and he has good size, so there really isn’t much that he doesn’t have,” said Maine coach John Giannini.

Maine shrunk an 11-point deficit with 38 seconds left to four with 13 seconds left, thanks to the play of senior forward Clayton Brown, who scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the final 68 seconds.

“He made a couple threes, and he hasn’t shot it that well this year,” Giannini said. “We were down and it was going to be extremely difficult to win it, but the guys started flying around the court and gave us a chance to win the game.”

After a Stony Brook turnover, Thomas Hill missed a 3-pointer, but Kevin Reed grabbed the rebound and put it in with three seconds left. Maine got the ball back with two seconds left, and Joe Campbell scored on a layup, but time elapsed and the Seawolves had their third straight win over the Black Bears.

“Some coaches would say the only thing we ran out of was time,” Giannini said.

Jairus McCollum scored 15 points for Stony Brook and Bobby Santiago added 13.

Maine was also led by Topsham’s Rickey White, who scored 19 points and grabbed seven boards after missing a game and a half with an ankle injury. Reed finished with 13 points. Senior 7-0 center Justin Rowe had eight points, 10 rebounds, and three blocked shots.

Maine outrebounded the ‘Wolves 42-33 and scored 44 points to SBU’s 26 in the paint. Stony Brook outshot the Bears 49.1 percent to 46.4. Although the ‘Wolves shot worse at the foul line, they hit 20 of 32 shots to Maine’s 9-for-13 effort.

“They shot the ball well, but we were too slow to loose balls and we gave them a number of second chances,” said Giannini, whose Bears fall to 8-11 (3-4). “We just didn’t play good enough defense or rebound the ball well enough in the second half.”

Maine committed 15 turnovers to SBU’s 12.

Giannini said his team looked a step or two slower in the second half and he couldn’t put his finger on the reason.

The largest lead in the game, which featured three ties and eight lead changes, was 13 by the Seawolves in the first five minutes.

Maine returns to action Wednesday night with a home game against conference leader and defending champ Boston University.

SEAWOLVES 81, BLACK BEARS 79

Maine men (8-11) Stony Brook (8-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jackson 0 3 1 2 1 Orfini 2 4 8

White 8 13 3 4 19 McCollum 7 13 2 2 16

Rowe 3 8 2 2 8 Kobryn 3 5 0 6

Dobson 3 9 1 1 7 Feist 2 4 8

Reed 5 11 1 2 13 Santiago 4 8 10 13

Petkus 2 6 0 0 6 Munir 7 14 10 25

Hill 2 3 0 0 4 Spencer 1 5 1 3

Dubois 0 0 0 0 0 Bennett 0 1 0

Campbell 1 1 0 0 2 Konopka 1 1 2

Brown 8 15 1 2 19

Totals 32 69 9 13 79 27 55 20 32 81

Maine 42 79

Stony Brook 40 81

3-pt. goals: Maine (6-19): Brown 2-4, Petkus 2-5, Reed 2-6, Hill 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Dobson 0-2; Stony Brook (7-15): Feist 2-2, Orfini 2-4, Munir 3-6, Santiago 0-3

Attendance: 1,681


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