Ernest Turner’s late surge lifts Maine past UNH in overtime

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ORONO – Sunday afternoon’s America East conference home game against New Hampshire was more like a distance race than a basketball game for University of Maine player Ernest Turner.

The start was slow and Maine’ offense was too for much of the first half as it trailed by as many as 10 and struggled offensively at the line and the field.

Maine’s senior guard had just two points at halftime, but as the game got later, Turner got better. His two free throws with 48.6 seconds left sent the game into overtime and his steal, fast break layup, and subsequent free throw after drawing a foul on the play with 31 seconds left in overtime gave Maine the lead for good.

Turner’s late heroics helped give Maine a 59-56 win over UNH, snapped a four-game losing streak for the 10-15 Black Bears, and gave them their seventh straight win over UNH.

“I’m just proud of the guys,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward, whose Bears were coming off a 79-48 pounding by Vermont Wednesday. “It’s been a hard week after everyone saw our game the other night and they’ve been very focused on changing people’s perceptions of the kind of team we are.”

Maine is now 5-9 in AE play and eighth in the league standings. UNH is 10-16 overall and sixth with a 7-8 AE record.

“It’s a very disappointing loss. This ain’t about moral victories or the old college try,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion, whose team shot a searing 54.2 percent from the field in the first half, but was held to 3-for-19 shooting (15.8) in the second. “This one really hurts us.”

Maine’s deficit grew as big as 12 points in the second half before something started happening to change things. The points weren’t coming as fast and furiously for UNH as they did in the first and Maine was scoring at a more frequent clip.

Still, Turner’s scoring column wasn’t changing much – until he strode to the foul line with 6:48 left in regulation. He hit both free throws to fuel a 15-5 Maine run that gave the Bears a 46-45 lead – their first since 6:19 into the first half.

Turner’s free throws sparked a change in the Bears’ foul-line fortunes as they went from hitting just five of their first 10 to nine of nine the rest of the way.

“We had some good stops when we needed them, we got into the 1-and-1 and got aggressive going to the hole and then made the free throws,” said Turner, who finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

It was his second steal that turned things around in OT as he intercepted a UNH pass from the left side to the perimeter near the top of the key with 31.2 seconds left and UNH up 56-54. He raced down the middle of the court, laid the ball in from the left block, and was fouled by Mike Christensen.

After Turner made the foul shot, UNH inbounded from the opposite baseline. Jermaine Anderson (12 points, six boards) drove to the left block and laid it off the glass, but the ball bounced out. Portland native Jamaal Caterina (seven points, seven rebounds) got the rebound from the low post and put it back up, but the ball again refused to fall through the net and rolled off the rim – this time into the hands of Maine forward Chris Bruff (five points, seven rebounds), who wrapped the ball up and drew a foul with nine seconds left.

After a timeout, Bruff hit both foul shots and Christensen drove down to the left wing, put up a shot and watched as it bounced off the glass as the final buzzer sounded.

Point guard Rashard Turner led Maine with 16 points. Olli Ahvenniemi had nine rebounds and two blocks before fouling out with 2:12 left in regulation.

BLACK BEARS 59, WILDCATS 56 (OT)

New Hampshire (10-16) Maine (10-15)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Janev 3 11 5 6 11 Ahvnnmi 2 3 5

Christnsen 4 9 2 2 11 Bofia 5 11 12

Caterina 2 8 2 2 7 R.Turner 5 11 2 2 16

Gibbs 0 2 0 0 0 E.Turner 2 11

Anderson 3 8 5 5 12 Sheets 2 6 6

Vetrano 2 3 0 0 5 Bruff 1 6 5

Karalis 3 5 0 0 8 Hight 1 2 2

Zeko 1 2 0 0 2 Petkus 0 1 0 0

Djanabia 0 1 0 0 0 Scales 1 2 2

Totals 18 49 14 15 56 19 51 14 20 59

New Hampshire 33 50 56

Maine 23 50 59

3-pt. goals – UNH (6-25): Karalis 2-3, Vetrano 1-2, Anderson 1-3, Christensen 1-3, Caterina 1-5, Gibbs 0-1, Janev 0-8; Maine (7-15): R. Turner 4-7, Sheets 2-4, Bofia 1-1, E. Turner 0-3

Attendance: 2,767