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ORONO – Despite scintillating shooting in the first half and solid ball control, the University of Maine men couldn’t find an answer for the University of Hartford’s 1-2 senior punch of Aaron Cook and Kenny Adeleke.
Cook shot 8-for-11 from 3-point range and 14-for-20 overall en route to a game-high 40 points while Adeleke had eight points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks. The result was a come-from-behind 69-62 Hartford win at Alfond Arena Thursday night.
“It’s just… It is frustrating coming out because we’ve been playing well,” said Maine point guard Rashard Turner, who hit six of 12 3-pointers and led the Bears with 24 points, three assists, and two steals. “For them to come and win with us being up most of the game is frustrating, but then again it’s a 40-minute game and if you only play 30 minutes, then you can’t expect to win and that’s what happened tonight.”
The win gave the 8-12 Hawks (4-5 in America East) their first season sweep of the Bears since the 2001-02 season. Maine is now 9-12 and 4-6, respectively.
“We’ve been really inconsistent in our play and we’ve had some personnel changes,” said Hawks coach Larry Harrison. “We lost a couple key inside guys to injury and another [starter Bo Taylor] who just decided to go his separate way. Then against Longwood, David Ruffin sprained his ankle.
“So we’ve been up and down, but more than anything, we haven’t gotten the job done defensively,” Harrison added. “We were much more active tonight defensively than we’ve been in awhile.”
The Hawks did it defensively Thursday, especially late when they held Maine to two field goals and five total points in the final seven minutes.
“We knew we had a challenge to take on defense, so we came in with a lot of fire and energy,” said Cook, who made three of Hartford’s eight steals.
It wasn’t just steals, however. It was Hartford’s ability to dictate tempo, play half-court, and beat Maine on the boards – 42-28 overall and 15-8 on the offensive end – despite using a three-guard lineup for the first time this year to get more perimeter defense.
Hartford also had 30 points in the paint to Maine’s 16 and 14 second-chance points to Maine’s three.
“Adeleke was out of the game during a lot of the first half and we were able to get some stops on them and get into transition,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “With him coming back in the second half, he was able to get some big rebounds and help them score. They really made us play half-court and were definitely more physical than us on the boards.”
The Bears saw a seven-point halftime lead shrink to two (50-48) in the first nine minutes of the second half as Hartford cranked up its inside scoring and rebounding. The Hawks tied it with 8:07 left on Cook’s off-balance 3-point shot from the right wing and took their first lead (58-57) since four minutes into the game on Cook’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 5:04 left to play.
Cook’s 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run for Hartford that proved to be a game-changer as Cook hit another 3, this time from the left wing on a pass from Adeleke, to make it 61-57 with 3:35 left. It was a lead the Hawks wouldn’t relinquish.
Maine junior center Olli Ahvenniemi paced the Bears with seven rebounds and five blocked shots but only had four points. Philippe Tchekane Bofia had 14 points but only one rebound before fouling out with 38 seconds left.
“I tried to play very physically with Adeleke, trying to keep him off the ball, but they had a lot of guys stepping up to help him out,” said Ahvenniemi.
The two teams played each other evenly for the first four minutes, but Maine got hot from long distance at the right time – just after Hartford came out of a timeout and switched from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone defense with 15:35 left in the first half. The Bears bombed away, to the tune of four straight 3-pointers and a 12-0 run that gave Maine a 19-8 lead with 13:19 left. The Hawks called timeout, junked the zone, and then rode the hot shooting and slashing inside moves of Cook, who scored 12 of Hartford’s first 14 points and pulled the Hawks within five points.
HAWKS 69, BLACK BEARS 62
Hartford (8-12) Maine (9-12)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Adeleke 3 12 2 2 8 Avhenimi 2 4
Zimnickas 2 7 3 4 7 Tckn-Bfia 4 14
Cook 14 20 4 5 40 R. Turner 9 20 24
Baker 2 6 3 3 7 E. Turner 4 14 0 0 9
Cole 1 3 0 0 2 Sheets 2 7 0 6
Carter 1 5 0 0 2 Bruff 1 1 2
Ford 0 0 0 0 0 Hight 0 1 0 0
Glowiak 0 0 0 0 0 Petkus 1 4 3
Tafo 1 3 1 2 3
Totals 24 56 13 16 69 Totals 23 58 62
Hartford 33 69
Maine 40 62
3-pt. goals – Hartford (8-14): Zimnickas 0-1, Cook 8-11, Baker 0-2; Maine (10-29): R. Turner 6-12, E. Turner 1-7, Sheets 2-6, Petkus 1-4
Attendance: 1,536
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