Late surge carries Albany past Maine

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ORONO – After trailing America East conference-leading University of Albany most of the game by as many as 11 points, it seemed the tide had turned for the University of Maine men with one shot.

Freddy Petkus’ 3-point jumper from the left wing off a Jon Sheets pass gave Maine its first lead in 22 1/2 minutes, injected energy into the Black Bears and life into a home crowd that had been silent much of the game, and seized momentum.

For the next five minutes, Saturday night’s game at Alfond Arena was nip and tuck, but a two-minute span in which Albany scored 10 unanswered points proved too much for Maine to overcome and the Great Danes never led by less than six points in the last six minutes en route to their 87-73 win and their first season sweep of the Bears.

“It was a couple possessions where we didn’t get a shot and they got fast breaks on the other end,” said Petkus, who had 15 points in 27 minutes off the bench. “It was that simple.”

Four different Albany players scored in the pivotal run as the 16-8 Danes (11-2 in AE play) went inside with success against a foul-ravaged Maine squad, which was also victimized by two turnovers which Albany turned into five points during the run.

Senior guard Jamar Wilson was the lead dog for the Danes with a game-high 30 points and six assists. He also grabbed five rebounds, but Wilson preferred to deflect much of the credit to big man Kirsten Zoellner.

“We did a good job of moving the ball. Kirsten was the X-factor of this game,” Wilson said. “He took up a lot of space and that forced them to open up the zone a lot more because he was strong inside.”

Zoellner not only had 17 points and seven rebounds, he also wore down both of Maine’s best post players as Olli Ahvenniemi and Philippe Tchekane Bofia fouled out within 13 seconds of each other with 5:47 left in the game.

Ahvenniemi and Tchekane Bofia combined for just 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“Zoellner and Wilson caused us problems,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “The thing is, they’re all veteran players on that team, including a lot of the guys they bring off the bench, and that made the difference late in the game.”

Jason Siggers and Levi Levine combined for 25 points and nine rebounds off Albany’s bench.

It didn’t hurt that the Danes shot an eye-opening 50.9 percent from the field for the game while Maine finished at a respectable 40.4.

“I think the thing is we didn’t settle for jump shots,” said Albany coach Will Brown. “We knew they were going to play a ton of zone against us.”

Albany outrebounded Maine 36-32, but it was the scoreless two-minute stretch where they scored off two of Maine’s 15 turnovers and a defense that finished with eight steals that capped things for the Danes.

“When we play defense, we win a lot of games because offense is not hard for us,” said Wilson.

Ernest Turner led Maine with 16 points while Jon Sheets finished with 15.

“We were able to penetrate and kick when we started getting back in the game, but that two-minute stretch really took the wind out of us,” said Sheets.

GREAT DANES 87, BLACK BEARS 73

Albany (16-8) Maine (9-14)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jordan 0 0 2 2 2 Ahvennmi 1 3

B.Wilson 1 4 0 0 3 Bofia 3 8 7

Zoellner 5 7 7 11 17 R.Turner 0 0

Lillis 1 5 3 4 6 E.Turner 4 16

J.Wilson 9 19 9 11 30 Sheets 5 13 15

Siggers 5 7 3 4 13 Bruff 5 6 13

Levine 5 7 1 2 12 Hight 0 0 0

Iati 0 4 0 0 0 Petkus 4 10 3 15

Connelly 2 2 0 0 4 Scales 0 2 0

Covington 0 0 0 0 0 Cavangh 1 2 4

Totals 28 55 25 34 87 Totals 23 57 18 19 73

Albany 41 87

Maine 33 73

3-pt. goals – Albany (6-16): J. Wilson 3-6, B. Wilson 1-2, Levine 1-2, Lillis 1-3, Siggers 0-1, Iati 0-2; Maine (9-23): Petkus 4-8, Sheets 3-9, E. Turner 2-3, Bofia 0-1, R. Turner 0-2

Attendance: 1,577