Albany tops Maine for season sweep Great Danes move toward top-four seeding, Black Bears slip to tie for fifth

ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Maine’s hopes for landing a top-four seeding in next month’s America East tournament took a big hit Saturday night when the University of Albany completed a first-ever season sweep of the Black Bears.

Albany outscored the Bears 32-19 in the second half en route to a 67-54 men’s basketball win over Maine in a game that both needed to win to have a solid grip on fourth place in the AE standings.

Maine is now tied for fifth with Binghamton University in the AE ranks at 6-8, but Binghamton wins any tiebreaker with Maine due to a season sweep of the Bears. If the current seedings hold through the final four games, Maine would play No. 3 Northeastern in the playoffs.

Jamar Wilson led the 12-11 Great Danes, who are now 8-6 in conference play, with a game-high 20 points and five assists.

Lucious Jordan had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Levi Levine, Wilson’s backcourt mate, had 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Maine was led offensively by their inside players as forward Mark Flavin had 14 points and fellow senior Joe Campbell of Bangor scored 10. Campbell also led the team with eight rebounds.

David Dubois chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds, but Maine was unable to generate much punch from its banged-up backcourt.

Kevin Reed was held to six points – five below his per-game average – on 2-for-13 shooting, Chris Markwood of South Portland had eight points, and leading scorer Ernest Turner is out one or two weeks with a dislocated left shoulder.

After outshooting the Danes 53.6 to 35.1 percent from the field in the first half, Maine was limited to 31.8 shooting in the second half while Albany’s percentage rose to 40.7.

Maine also committed 21 turnovers in the game to Albany’s 14. Albany also enjoyed a slight advantage on the boards, 40-38 overall.

GREAT DANES 67, BLACK BEARS 54

Maine (11-12) Albany (12-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Dubois 2 3 2 2 6 Levine 4 11 12

Campbell 4 10 2 3 10 St. Hillaire 2 4

Flavin 7 11 0 2 14 Zoellner 1 2

Hight 0 2 0 0 0 Jordan 5 13 14

Reed 2 13 0 2 6 J. Wilson 7 18 20

Bruff 4 4 0 3 8 Johnson 0 1 0

Ahvenniemi 0 0 2 2 2 Lillis 1 2 3

Harknell 0 1 0 0 0 Wyatt 2 2 6

Markwood 3 6 0 0 8 B. Wilson 2 6

Totals 22 50 6 14 54 Totals 24 64 13 22 67

Maine 35 54

Albany 35 67

3-pt. goals – Maine (4-15): Markwood 2-5, Reed 2-6, Flavin 0-1, Harknell 0-1, Campbell 0-2; Albany (6-16): J. Wilson 2-3, B. Wilson 2-6, Lillis 1-1, Jordan 1-4, Levine 0-2

Attendance: 2,214