Reed’s 30 points propel UMaine to victory over St. Francis

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Kevin Reed poured in a season-high 30 points, including a career-high eight 3-pointers, to lead the University of Maine men’s basketball team to a 79-60 victory over St. Francis Saturday at Peter Aquilone Court.

Reed was coming off calf and toe injuries he suffered in a Nov. 14 loss to Idaho State. The senior guard left that game with 12:47 to go in the first half and did not return.

He sat out the 2005-06 season as a medical redshirt after suffering a stress fracture in his left foot in October 2005.

But Reed was sharp Saturday, scoring the first six points of the game for the 1-3 Black Bears.

Maine coach Ted Woodward said he felt Reed would break out of an early season scoring slump.

“Kevin hasn’t played for a couple of years, he had a couple of tough nights, but you know, tough nights for Kevin, he still helps us win,” Woodward told WZON radio after the game. “He doesn’t need to be the guy every night scoring. We finally got him to relax, go out there and play, and he took the thing over tonight.”

Reed (nine rebounds) scored 19 of his 30 points in the first half. He went 10-for-19 from the floor and 8-for-11 from 3-point range.

The 0-4 Terriers had a 9-6 lead with 14:57 left in the first half but Maine took the lead when Houlton’s Mark Socoby tipped in a rebound at the 13:18 mark. Reed and Jon Sheets hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the lead.

Socoby hit a pair of free throws to make it 30-20 with seven minutes to go in the half.

St. Francis narrowed Maine’s lead to six points with 10:42 left in the game but Reed drained a 3-pointer and Junior Bernal converted a Terrier turnover to help spark a Maine run for a 65-48 lead.

Again, St. Francis cut the lead to 10 but wasn’t able to get any closer. Sheets made eight free throws in the final two minutes to seal it.

The Bears were 0-3 and had struggled to finish in their first three games.

“We didn’t want to feel sorry for ourselves,” Woodward said. “We like the team we have, we feel like we’ve been doing a lot of good things as far as rebounding, turnovers, as far as our possessions go, and it was just a matter of time.”

Overall the Black Bears made 10 of 19 3-pointers (52.6 percent).

Philippe Tchekane Bofia, Sheets and Bernal each chipped in with 11 points. Sheets also racked up five rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Robert Hines led St. Francis with 18 points. The Terriers outrebounded the Black Bears 40-34.

BLACK BEARS 79, TERRIERS 60

Maine (1-3) St. Francis (0-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bruff 3 5 2 2 8 Hines 7 15 18

Bofia 5 7 0 2 11 Sheppard 2 4

Sheets 1 7 8 9 11 Yessfou 2 5 6

Bernal 4 8 3 7 11 Rickards 0 0

Reed 10 19 2 2 30 Williams 2 10 8

Socoby 2 3 2 2 6 Womack 4 9 11

Cook 0 0 0 0 0 Pekkola 2 3 0 4

Ahvnniemi 1 1 0 0 2 Melo 2 8 6

Cavnaugh 0 0 0 0 0 St.Robert 0 0

Gooden 1 3 1 3

Totals 26 50 17 24 79 Totals 22 66 12 15 60

Maine 39 79

St. Francis 30 60

3-pt. goals – Maine (10-19): Tchekane Bofia 1-1, Sheets 1-6, Reed 8-11, Socoby 0-1; St. Francis (4-23): Hines 0-4, Sheppard 0-3, Rickards 0-4, Williams 1-3, Womack 3-7, Melo 0-2

Attendance: 219