Maine runs to win over Canadians 5 Bears hit double figures

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ORONO – It was apparent early on that about the only thing suspenseful about Wednesday night’s exhibition basketball game was whether the University of Maine would eclipse the 100-point mark.

That question was answered with about four seconds left when Chris Bruff took a pass from Jesse Keith and muscled a shot from the right block off the glass and into the net to put the final touches on a 101-46 win by the Black Bears over the University of Quebec at Montreal.

Six days after four Bears scored in double digits, five accomplished the feat at Alfond Arena Wednesday. Still, even after watching his team shoot 65.7 percent from the field and outrebound Montreal 46-27, head coach Ted Woodward was less than satisfied.

“It was just OK today. We had good moments, but I was really uncomfortable with our first half,” Woodward said. “We kind of got out of our discipline and we’ve been a very disciplined team. We haven’t turned the ball over or taken some crazy gambles defensively, but tonight we did both of those.”

The Bears did a better job of running their offense in the second half, but after committing 12 turnovers in the second half, they lost 11 in the second.

“I thought we were a lot sloppier, in the first half especially,” said Woodward. “Sometimes we were overpassing or throwing passes we weren’t used to making. I don’t think their defense had that much to do with our turnovers, but even defensively, we were taking some gambles that didn’t work out.”

Freshman forward Christian Cavanaugh came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points, seven of which came on highlight-reel passes from sophomore guard Jason Hight of Westbrook down the stretch.

“I’m not the biggest of big guys, but I can run,” said Cavanaugh. “Jason sees the court real well and coach always tell me to run the court. I know Hight will find me.”

Hight led the team with five assists and also kicked in seven points.

“One of our main focuses of preseason was getting up and down, pushing the ball, and moving it around,” Hight said.

Senior guard Ernest Turner, junior college transfer guard Jon Sheets, and Bruff each scored 16 points. Bruff also had a game-high eight rebounds.

“The biggest thing I worked on was conditioning because coach told me we want to run,” said Bruff. “Tonight, he told me before the game that we need rebounds and my goal was to get as many as I could.”

Junior center-forward Olli Ahvenniemi had a solid outing with 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

The Bears’ active man-to-man defensive pressure helped force 29 turnovers in the game and hold Montreal to 29 percent shooting from the floor.

Maine opened up the game with a 17-2 run in the first six minutes and never looked back. The Bears began the second half with a 22-2 run that gave them a 71-27 lead.

Bruno Visolzky-Bernier scored 12 points to lead Montreal, which was missing two of its better players due to academic ineligibility and another who couldn’t get cleared to enter the country and was stuck at the border.

Maine opens its season Friday, Nov. 18, against William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

“Before today, I liked where we were, but I’m concerned now about some of the things I saw tonight,” Woodward said. “We feel like we’re read. It’s time to start playing some games.”

BLACK BEARS 101, LES CITADINS 46

Quebec-Montreal Maine

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Visolzky-Brnr 4 9 3 4 12 Petkus 2 4

Boucher 0 2 0 0 0 Ahvenniemi 5 12

Johnson 3 14 2 2 9 R.Turner 0 0

Ysos 3 7 0 0 7 E.Turner 8 11 16

Beauchamp 1 5 0 0 2 Sheets 6 9 16

Maignan 1 6 0 0 3 Keith 1 2 2

Daousi 1 6 0 0 2 Bruff 8 9 16

Noel 1 3 0 0 2 Hight 3 4 0 7

Charlotin 2 6 1 1 5 Scales 2 3 6

Limido 2 4 0 0 4 Hartnett 1 2

Cavanaugh 7 8 17

Harknell 1 2 3

Totals 18 62 6 7 46 Totals 44 67 16 101

Montreal 25 46

Maine 49 101

3-pt. goals – Quebec-Montreal (4-20): Visolzky-Bernier 1-2, Maignan 1-3, Ysos 1-3, Johnson 1-7, Charlotin 0-1, Daousi 0-1, Beauchamp 0-1, Boucher 0-2; Maine (6-13): Sheets 3-6, Cavanaugh 1-1, Harknell 1-2, Hight 1-2, E. Turner 0-1, Hartnett 0-1