Woodward gets first win as Bears knock off Rams

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KINGSTON, R.I. – It wasn’t pretty, but it will always look even better as the season wears on for the University of Maine men’s basketball team.

The Black Bears notched their first win of the season and the first in coach Ted Woodward’s head coaching career by overcoming sluggish shooting and rebounding for a 47-44 victory over the University of Rhode Island Friday night.

“This place has meant so much to me and my family and to get a win here makes it special, but it’s not about me, it’s about our team,” said Woodward in a postgame interview.

Woodward’s father Carl is a former URI president.

The victory on the road against a solid Atlantic-10 Conference member should pump up Maine’s Rating Percentage Index (RPI) and provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the veteran team as it continues a three-game road swing against Dartmouth Monday night.

Junior guard Kevin Reed overcame a frustrating first-half scoring drought by scoring all 11 of his points in the second half. He also led the team with nine rebounds.

Reed’s 3-pointer with 5:45 left to play gave the Bears a 43-41 lead. Maine would never trail after that.

David Dubois scored six points and led the Bears with eight rebounds, the last of which was the biggest of the game.

The senior forward helped the Bears win in the final seconds by snatching a defensive rebound off a miss from the lane and drawing a foul with 4.1 seconds left. Dubois hit one of his two free throws to provide the final margin. Rams guard Jon Lucky launched a 3-pointer at the buzzer that was off the mark.

Senior guard Chris Markwood of South Portland led the Bears with a career-high 14 points plus four rebounds.

Both teams shot under 20 percent from the field in the first half and URI took a 21-20 lead into halftime.

The 1-2 Rams had won 92 percent of their home games against the Bears and Maine hadn’t beaten URI in Kingston since 1969. The overall series record is now 85-13 overall and 47-5 at Kingston in URI’s favor.

Rhode Island outrebounded Maine 45-40, but Maine canned nine of 13 foul shots while URI shot just 54.8 percent (17-for-31) from the line.

Rams senior Scott Hazelton had six points and 10 rebounds while fellow forward Terrence Mack had 12 points.

BLACK BEARS 47, RAMS 44

Maine (1-2) Rhode Island (1-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Flavin 0 2 1 2 1 Mack 5 13 12

Campbell 2 5 2 2 7 Hazelton 1 13 4 7 6

Turner 2 13 1 3 5 Clark 0 2 6

Reed 4 10 0 0 11 Brooks 0 5 1 1

Markwood 5 12 2 2 14 Bitee 2 7 8

Bruff 0 0 0 0 0 Moore 2 4 5

Jackson 2 7 0 0 6 Lucky 1 3 4

Dubois 0 3 3 4 3 Daniels 1 2

Ahvenniemi 0 1 0 0 0 Momplaisir 0 0

Totals 15 53 9 13 47 12 51 17 31 44

Maine 20 47

Rhode Island 21 44

3-pt. goals – Maine (8-24): Reed 3-8, Markwood 2-4, Jackson 2-6, Campbell 1-2, Turner 0-4; URI (3-10): Bitee 2-4, Lucky 1-2, Brooks 0-1, Daniels 0-1, Hazelton 0-2

Attendance: 4,083