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ORONO – With three starters sitting on the bench in street clothes and another not even present at Alfond Arena Thursday night, the University of Maine men’s basketball team looked more like a hospital admissions room.
Of course, the University of Albany wasn’t about to cut the Black Bears a break and Great Danes took advantage by dominating the boards and using superior depth to avenge an earlier loss with a 74-60 victory.
Starting center Brian Andre, forward Jordan Cook, and guard Junior Bernal all sat out the game with a broken nose, sprained ankle, and foot injury, respectively. Also, reserve guard Jay Hight remains out with a shoulder injury.
“With all the injuries we have, we need everybody on the same page and I don’t think we had that today,” said Maine junior guard Kaimondre Owes, who finished with 10 points and six assists. “This was a chance for other people to step up, so that’s no excuse.”
No, but it certainly limited what Maine could do, especially inside, where the Bears were outrebounded 41-29 (15-7 offensively) by a Danes squad that only had one more rebound in their last meeting, a Maine road win.
“We were limited in what we could do in the paint without Andre and Cook,” said head coach Ted Woodward, whose Black Bears slide to 7-17 overall and 3-8 in America East play. “We still outscored them in the paint (23-19), but without those guys and Junior, who’s a guy who scores in the paint too, it was tough for us to concentrate inside.”
It didn’t help that Albany senior guard Jon Iati canned six of nine 3-pointers en route to a game- and season-high 23 points.
“He caught one loose ball and got it out of his hands before I could even yell at him not to shoot,” said Albany coach Will Brown, whose Danes improve to 13-12 (8-5). “You know Jon’s in a rhythm when he does stuff like that.”
Iati led a perimeter shooting attack that saw the Danes shoot a combined 10-for-19 (52.6 percent) from 3-point range.
“They did a good job with the ball against our 2-3 zone,” said Owes. “I think where we got hurt the most was the middle, where they’d curl someone in to get a shot.”
Maine was led by junior forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia, who scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half.
“I just tried to take what the defense gave me, but they didn’t give me much in the second half,” Bofia said.
Sophomore guard Mark Socoby of Houlton finished with 14 and Sean McNally of Gardiner had his third double-double this season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Maine outscored Albany 12-5 to start the second half and make it a five-point game (44-39 Albany) with 15:36 left, but the Danes hit three straight 3-pointers to push their lead back to 10 with 10 minutes to go.
Albany used a 12-3 scoring run to take a 68-49 lead with 4:51 left and effectively put the game away.
Maine built early leads of 21-12 and 27-19 thanks largely to the hot shooting of Bofia, who hit his first seven shots. Albany responded in a big way via perimeter shooting and defense, scoring 13 points off Maine turnovers, shooting 50 percent (5-for-10) from 3-point range, and finishing the first half with a 20-0 scoring run over the last 5 1/2 minutes.
Rebounding and outside shooting aside, the Danes also beat Maine in two other key areas. Albany outscored Maine 17-6 in points off turnovers despite Maine committing a season-low 11 turnovers, and the Danes’ bench players outscored Maine’s a whopping 29 to one.
“You have to have several players play well to beat them, and that was definitely a difference tonight,” Woodward said.
Brian Connelly scored 14, Brent Wilson 13, and Brian Lillis 10 to supplement Albany’s balanced scoring. Lillis also dished out seven of Albany’s 20 assists.
aneff@bangordailynews.net
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GREAT DANES 74, BLACK BEARS 60
Albany (13-12) Maine (7-17)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Hastings 1 5 0 0 2 Barnies 2 5 5
Connelly 6 10 2 2 14 McNally 5 9 11
Wilson 5 11 0 0 13 Bofia 8 15 19
Turley 2 5 2 4 6 Owes 4 9 10
Lillis 3 11 4 6 10 Socoby 2 9 11 14
Martin 2 3 0 0 5 Hanzlik 0 2 0
Moores 0 0 0 1 0 Costigan 0 0
Iati 7 11 3 4 23 Peay 0 0 1 1
Ambrose 0 2 1 2 1
Coyington 0 1 0 0 0
Gifford 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 59 12 19 74 Totals 21 51 12 18 60
Albany 39 74
Maine 27 60
3-pt. goals – Albany (10-19): Hastings 0-1, Wilson 3-6, Lillis 0-2, Martin 1-1, Iati 6-9; Maine (6-18): Barnies 0-1, Bofia 3-6, Owes 1-2, Socoby 2-7, Hanzlik 0-1, Costigan 0-1
Attendance: 1,150 (tickets issued)
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