CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Led by junior guard Casey Arena’s 19 points and scrappy play, the University of Maine men’s basketball team fought off a strong challenge by Alcorn State to post a 90-79 win Friday night in the opening round of the River City Classic hosted by Southeast Missouri State University.

Terry Hunt and Rahsaan Thompson each added 16 points for Maine, 2-1. Ken Barnes chipped in with 14 points and Ramone Jones finished with 11.

Maine will play Southeast Missouri State in Saturday’s title game at 9 p.m. Saturday. Southeast Missouri beat Fairfield 82-75 in Friday’s other bracket.

The Black Bears were pulling away as the game ended, however, the victory was anything but easy. The lead changed hands several times, but the Bears retained their poise and came away with the victory.

Maine coach Rudy Keeling said the victory was the result of the team coming together. “The veterans and the kids are learning to get together and blend,” said Keeling. “It’s a sign of their character that they could come back and win.”

It looked like Maine would blow out the Braves in the early going as Arena dazzled the crowd with steals, scoring and nifty assists. The score was 8-2 Maine at 18:12 and 14-7 after five minutes of play.

But Alcorn State, under second-year coach Sam Weaver, a former assistant at Southeast Missouri State, came back and took a 21-20 lead at 10:45. The two teams fought hard in a see-saw battle, with Alcorn leading 28-22 with nine minutes to go in the half. A Barnes lay-in at 4:20 tied the score at 33-all and the Black Bears struggled to a 43-42 halftime lead.

One of the key factors of Maine’s strong play in the second half was Jones’ defensive effort on Alcorn’s DeCarlos Anderson, who had 17 points in the first half. Anderson scored only six points in the second half. Keeling was especially complimentary of Jones’ effort.

“Jones is the best defensive player I’ve ever had,” Keeling said.

Poor free throw shooting by the Black Bears made the game close throughout the second half until the closing minutes. The Bears hit only 24 of 41 from the foul line for the game (.585).

“We’ve not shot free throws well,” said Keeling. “It’s a mind game with the kids. They’ve got to work it out. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us down the road.”

The game was tight, 76-75 Maine, with 3:45 to go. At 2:05 Hunt hit a 3-pointer to make it 83-77. Then Arena broke the game open with a fantastic, off-balance 3-pointer as the shot clock sounded with 1:20 to play, putting Maine up 86-77. With less than a minute to play, Maine spread the floor and continued to score.

Weaver, the Alcorn coach, was gracious in defeat.

“Maine is very good,” he said. “They’re good passers and they execute well. They’ve got excellent guard play. You must have that to succeed and they’ve got it.”

Keeling praised Arena’s play.

“He’s going to be very good. He must play more under control, but he took the game over for awhile. He must make a greater commitment on defense,” said the UM coach.

Jim Mitchell, a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers, was impressed with Arena.

“That Arena is a feisty, tough little kid,” he said. “He’s got good vision and good court sense. Great speed and quickness are lacking right now, but he can improve.”

The Bears played without swingman Chris Collins, who is still nursing an ankle sprain.

Black Bears 90, Braves 79

Alcorn State men Maine

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Anderson 10 21 2 2 23 Hunt 6 9 3 5 16

Gordon 1 6 0 0 2 Barnes 6 11 2 6 14

Smith 1 3 4 5 6 Smith 3 6 0 0 6

Walton 7 14 3 4 18 Arena 6 15 5 8 19

Batiste 3 12 2 2 10 Moore 2 6 4 6 8

Hollinshed 0 1 0 0 0 Soucy 0 1 0 0 0

Foster 2 5 0 0 5 Keeling 0 0 0 0 0

Mosley 3 8 3 7 10 Thompson 4 6 7 10 16

Peterson 1 2 0 0 3 Jones 3 5 3 6 11

Pretlow 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 29 74 14 20 79 Totals 30 59 24 41 90

Alcorn State 42 79

Maine 43 90

3-pt. goals: Alcorn State (7-25): Anderson 1-5, Walton 1-6, Batiste 2-5, Foster 1-4, Mosley 1-4, Peterson 1-1; Maine (6-15): Hunt 1-1, Barnes 0-1, Arena 2-6, Moore 0-2, Soucy 0-1, Thompson 1-1, Jones 2-3