Test drive a success for Bears UMaine pounds UNB

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ORONO – Monday night was the final tune-up for the University of Maine men’s basketball team as the season switches from pre- to regular this week.

With Maine’s season-opener just four days away, head coach Ted Woodward’s driving emphasis has been on defense, rebounding, and the transition game.

From the looks of the Black Bears’ 78-57 victory over the University of New Brunswick at Alfond Arena, he enjoyed the test drive.

The Bears cranked up a fast break fueled largely by defensive pressure (12 steals) and 22 turnovers, and accelerated away from the visiting Reds with four big scoring runs.

“That’s something we really wanted to focus on tonight because we weren’t really pleased with our defense in the first game,” Woodward said. “We had spurts, but nothing on a consistent basis. We’re still not 100 percent satisfied, but we looked a lot better.”

Senior guard Kevin Reed shook off some rust from preseason and a redshirt season spent mending a broken foot by shooting 7-for-14 from the field. The co-captain led all scorers with 16 points and added five rebounds, three steals, three assists and even two blocks.

“I felt pretty comfortable tonight,” said Reed. “It’s just shooting in a rhythm and taking what the defense gives me.”

Reed led a well-rounded scoring attack that produced five players with 10 or more points and a shooting percentage of 42.5 from the field.

Christian Cavanaugh came off the bench to score 14 points and fellow sophomore forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia had a double-double with 11 points and 10 points.

Freshman guard Junior Bernal had 10 points and senior forward Chris Bruff had 10 points, five rebounds, and two steals off the bench.

“I saw better defense and rebounding,” Reed said. “We saw spots where we broke down defensively last game and we played better defense for 40 minutes tonight.”

The Bears outrebounded the Reds 17-8 offensively and 52-40 overall.

“We really wanted to put our focus on defensive rebounding tonight,” said Woodward. “We had great perimeter defense and our interior defense was good. We had a couple breakdowns with some of our positions, but it was a step in the right direction.”

Maine took a 40-24 lead into the second half and came out of halftime with a 7-2 run. The Bears extended their lead with a 14-0 run in which five different players scored to give them a 61-30 lead with 14 minutes left. The Bears did it with defensive pressure and a revved-up fast break, producing eight points from the paint.

Cavanaugh led Maine on an 11-0 run midway through the first half with six points in a two-minute span to turn an 11-9 UNB lead into a nine-point Maine lead. Maine used a 10-0 run lasting 90 seconds to push its lead to 32-16 late in the first half. Tchekane Bofia fueled the run with three straight hoops, two on rebounds from the low post and the third on a fast-break layup off his own steal.

Michael Anderson and Oliver Glencross led UNB with 12 points apiece. Ben MacLeod had seven rebounds.

BLACK BEARS 78, REDS 57

New Brunswick Maine

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Sharkey 1 3 0 0 2 Bofia 5 7 11

Walker 3 6 0 0 9 Ahvenmi 1 4 5

Parent 1 2 3 6 5 Sheets 1 4 3

Glencross 4 12 2 3 12 Bernal 4 7 10

Swift 2 9 2 2 8 Reed 7 14 16

Bubar 0 2 1 2 1 Keith 0 1 1

Wilson 0 1 0 0 0 Bruff 4 6 10

MacLeod 1 3 0 0 2 Uhrin 0 1 0

Maxwell 2 6 0 0 6 Socoby 0 7 1

Anderson 3 10 5 8 12 Hartnett 0 0

Costigan 1 4 3

Cook 2 5 0 4

Cavangh 6 8 1 14

Totals 17 54 13 21 57 Totals 31 73 10 20 78

New Brunswick 24 57

Maine 40 78

3-pt. goals – New Brunswick (10-27): Walker 3-4, Glencross 2-6, Swift 2-5, Maxwell 2-3, Anderson 1-4, Sharkey 0-1, Bubar 0-2, Wilson 0-1, Parent 0-1; Maine (6-19): Tchekane-Bofia 1-1, Sheets 1-4, Reed 2-7, Socoby 0-1, Hartnett 0-2, Costigan 1-3, Cavanaugh 1-1

Attendance: 919