BANGOR – The Husson men’s basketball game Wednesday against the University of Maine-Presque Isle started as a struggle, but ended as a sleeper as the Braves prevailed 95-73.

What led Husson to overcome a 49-42 setback at halftime wasn’t what took place in the second half, but more what happened in the locker room at Newman Gym at intermission.

“At halftime, Coach was mad,” said Rick Sinclair, who scored a game-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers.

“He told us to step up our defense and our offense would come from our defense. All we did differently, really, was just play with more energy,” said Sinclair.

After a first half of their futile man-to-man coverage, Husson charged back halfway through the second half with a more energized matchup-zone defense that allowed UMPI only perimeter shots.

“We weren’t adjusting,” Caruso said. “When we came back with our matchup zone, we forced them to take perimeter shots. We had Brian on Simon Mitchell and forced him to shoot from the outside.”

At 16 minutes, 22 seconds into the second half with the Owls leading by seven, Jefferson made a fast-break layup to spark a rally that brought the Braves to 54-50 and gave them hope.

Mike McCaffrey, who only had one field goal up until that point, gave the Braves the lead, which they hadn’t held since Jefferson started the scoring with the opening field goal. McCaffrey continued the Braves’ run with a 3-pointer followed by a jumper seconds later to put Husson up 55-54.

But the Owls snatched the lead right back when UMPI’s Glenn Sharp made a layup off an alley-oop pass. The Braves then struggled to overcome UMPI’s two- to three-point lead for the next 10 minutes.

The Owls maintained a seven-point lead in the second half’s first four minutes, but the Braves battled to take a 55-54 lead. The game stayed close until the seven-minute mark when Sinclair stepped up.

Sinclair, who went 12-for-12 from the line, started by swooshing both his free throws, an act that became something of a trademark for the senior captain.

Mike McCaffrey returned with his second 3-pointer to give the Braves a four-point lead with 5:58 left. After Mitchell, who led the Owls with 19 points, sank one of two from the line, Husson’s Michael Dyt made a turnaround jumper to restart the Braves.

Husson proceeded on a 5-0 run as Brian Alley swooshed in two from the line and Sinclair sunk one from downtown that left the Braves with the game in hand with 2:40 left. From there out, Husson didn’t let UMPI get within six points.

Alley helped to secure the lead with a baseline jumper and a conventional 3-point play, and Sinclair made four more of his crisp free throws, swooshing in three of the four.

“Rick and Brian sparked us,” Husson coach Warren Caruso said. “Rick is such a presence inside. He just answered the call.”

Braves 95, Owls 73

UMPI men (10-5) Husson College (9-10)

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

Mitchell 5 14 7 9 19 Sinclair 7 16 12 12 31

Rivera 5 13 1 2 12 Jefferson 9 14 3 5 22

Sharp 6 12 0 0 13 McCaffrey 5 9 0 0 12

Michaud 5 7 1 2 11 Alley 5 11 4 5 14

Morrow 4 13 0 2 9 Cameron 1 1 0 0 3

Casavant 0 1 0 0 0 Dyt 2 5 0 0 4

Folin 3 9 0 1 7 Durost 0 2 0 0 0

McAtee 1 2 0 0 2 Foye 1 1 0 0 3

Miller 0 0 0 0 0 Durost 0 0 0 0 0

Adickes 0 0 0 0 0 Funk 3 6 0 0 6

Grubke 0 0 0 0 0

McAneany 0 3 0 0 0

Totals 29 71 9 16 73 Totals 33 68 19 22 95

Presque Isle 49 73

Husson 42 95

3-pt. goals: UMPI (6-20): Rivera 1-2, Morron 1-6, Mitchell 2-5, Sharp 1-4, Folin 1-3; Husson (10-17): Jefferson 1-1, Cameron 1-1, McCaffrey 2-3, J. Durost 0-1, Foye 1-1, Sinclair 5-10