WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – A 3-point attempt by Mark Socoby with seven seconds left and an attempted tip-in off a rebound by Sean McNally with five seconds to go both missed the mark and the University of Hartford Hawks held on.

The Hartford men shot 48.9 percent from the field and edged Maine 69-67 at Chase Arena Wednesday night.

“They’re the 18th best team shooting 3-pointers in the country right now. They have a lot of good shooters,” said Maine head coach Ted Woodward, whose Black Bears are now 6-16 (2-7 in America East play) after their third straight loss.

The Hawks improve their record to 12-13 (6-4).

Morgan Sabia’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left was the game-winning shot. Hartford’s freshman guard finished with 15 points.

“They ran a weave and were able to get a little penetration and then get it back to him and he stepped up and took the shot,” Woodward said.

Joe Zeglinski led the Hawks with 20 points. Fellow guard Jaret Von Rosenberg dished out a game-high seven assists.

Sophomore guard Mark Socoby of Houlton led the Bears with 20 points while junior guard Kaimondre Owes had 14 and freshman forward Sean McNally added 13. Socoby and McNally each had six rebounds while Owes made four assists.

“I thought all those guys were doing a good job. Sean has continued his good play and Troy [Barnies] gave us a nice lift too,” Woodward said. “I thought we shared the ball well in the second half, but they made one more shot.

“We still need to learn how to win and to do so consistently.”

Hartford led 46-37 with 15:27 left in the game, but Maine went on a 10-0 run fueled by 3-pointers from Owes, Socoby and McNally to take a one-point lead with 12:01 to go.

Maine led 65-63 with 52 seconds left, but Von Rosenberg hit a 3-pointer nine seconds later. A layup by Maine’s Philippe Tchekane Bofia got the lead back with 30 seconds left, but Sabia gave Hartford the lead for good with his 3.

Hartford kept Maine’s inside scoring game bottled up with a 2-3 zone defense.

“I think it was very difficult inside against them because they played zone the whole night. You’re going to end up taking more 3’s against them because of that too,” said Woodward, whose Bears shot 10-for-22 from 3-point range. Hartford was 11-for-25.

After playing a couple of minutes in his team’s last three games, Barnies contributed four rebounds and six points in 11 minutes.

The win gives Hartford a season sweep of the Bears and is the fifth for the Hawks in the teams’ last six meetings.

Both teams committed 15 turnovers and the Bears had a slight advantage on the boards with 34 rebounds (14 offensive) to Hartford’s 32 (eight). Maine shot 39.7 percent from the field. The Hawks shot a scalding 54.2 percent from the field in the first half and 54.5 just from 3-point range.

Maine sophomore guard Junior Bernal played a game-high 37 minutes. He had three assists and two steals, but was held to five points on 18.2 percent shooting.

HAWKS 69, BLACK BEARS 67

Maine (6-16) Hartford (12-13)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bernal 2 11 1 4 5 VnRsnbrg 1 4

Owes 5 7 1 1 14 Turner 1 5 4 6

McNally 4 12 3 4 13 Sabia 6 9 15

Socoby 7 14 1 2 20 Zeglinski 6 17 4 7 20

Cook 1 1 0 0 2 Minor 3 4 0 6

Barnies 2 3 2 2 6 McLndon 3 4 9

Hanzlik 0 1 0 0 0 Torres 1 2 3

Andre 1 2 2 2 4 Glowiak 2 2 6

Peay 0 1 1 2 1 Estes 0 2 0 0

Bofia 1 6 0 0 2

Totals 23 58 11 17 67 Totals 23 47 12 21 69

Maine 30 67

Hartford 35 69

3-pt. goals – Maine (10-22): Socoby 5-10, Owes 3-4, McNally 2-4, Peay 0-1, Barnies 0-1, Bernal 0-1, Hanzlik 0-1; Hartford (11-25): Zeglinski 4-13, Sabia 3-4, Glowiak 2-2, Von Rosenberg 1-2, Torres 1-2, Turner 0-2

Attendance: 943