Maine makes late free throws, beats Morgan State

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PORTLAND – Saturday’s home-away-from-home basketball game for the University of Maine men was a difficult one to dissect.

Offensive flow? There wasn’t much, if any. Style? This physical game had about as much of that as an episode of Fear Factor. Even the accompanying story of South Portland High School alum Chris Markwood’s return to basketball in hometown territory went from melodrama to horror.

There was, however, a bright note as the Black Bears shook off a disappointing overtime loss earlier in the week with a gut-it-out, 69-63 victory over Morgan State University of Baltimore before more than 1,000 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“I thought we played … not well,” Maine coach John Giannini said with a chuckle. “I didn’t think it was a great game, but the key to having a great season is to not play well and still win occasionally.”

“Look, it wasn’t pretty to look at, but it was competitive and I thought John’s ballclub did what they had to do to win the game,” said coach and former NBA player Alfred “Butch” Beard, whose MSU team is 1-5.

Backcourt mates Kevin Reed and Eric Dobson led Maine throughout the foul-plagued contest and were the primary reasons the 5-2 Black Bears didn’t let an 11-point lead with 10 minutes to play fade totally away after it dwindled to one with 61/2 minutes left.

“That’s been the story this year. Usually we have big leads and then teams come back on us and that’s something we’re trying to cut down on,” Reed said. “Toward the end, we just tried to use the clock a bit more and force them into fouling.”

Reed scored 22 points and 11 rebounds – both game-highs – and Dobson scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half while logging 35 minutes of game time apiece. The Bears’ dynamic duo also combined to sink 10 of 14 free throws in the final seven minutes.

“We slowed it down at the end of the game and attacked off a set instead of just coming down and attacking off a fast break,” said Dobson. “The game was probably the most physical game we’ve played all season.”

The game featured 41 fouls as two players, one from each team, fouled out. Markwood was 0-for-2 from the field with one assist, one block and four turnovers in 15 minutes played. His fifth foul, the only one he committed on the defensive end, came with 61/2 minutes left.

Dobson and Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov (nine points) each finished the game with four.

“I just never felt great about our flow. It just wasn’t there,” said Giannini. “But their pressure defense had something to do with that.”

The key part of the game came with four minutes left as Maine widened its lead from two points to nine (64-55) with a 7-0 run in which Dobson scored four points.

Maine also got key efforts out of big men David Dubois and Mark Flavin, who helped hold 6-foot-5 forward Aaron Andrews in check while combining for 17 points and 12 rebounds. Andrews also had five turnovers before fouling out with 86 seconds left.

“The thing the stat sheet will not tell is that Andrews is a great player for them and David and Flavin did a great job limiting him five points below his average before fouling him out,” Giannini said.

Maine outrebounded the MSU Bears 37-27.

BLACK BEARS 69, BEARS 63

Morgan State (1-5) Maine (5-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Barrow 3 10 4 7 10 Dobson 5 11 16

Winkfield 2 6 1 2 7 Reed 6 14 22

Grant 5 7 3 4 13 Dubois 3 4 8

Brand 4 12 3 4 13 Campbell 1 2

Andrews 4 6 0 0 8 Markwood 0 0

Terrell 0 1 0 0 0 Wallingford 0 0

Evans 2 5 0 0 4 Hadjisotirov 3 9

Lawler 0 1 0 0 0 Petkus 1 3 3

Aujla 1 2 0 0 3 Flavin 3 6 9

Berkley 2 3 1 2 5

Totals 23 53 12 19 63 22 51 20 28 69

Morgan State 27 63

Maine 32 69

3-pt. goals ? Morgan State (5-18): Winkfield 2-5, Brand 2-6, Aujla 1-2, Terrell 0-1, Lawler 0-1, Barrow 0-3; Maine (5-19): Reed 3-7, Hadjisotirov 1-3, Petkus 1-3, Dobson 0-1, Flavin 0-1, Campbell 0-2, Markwood 0-2

Attendance: 1,418