Men's Basketball Is Knocked Out of First Place with 72-61 Loss

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Orono, Maine – Kaimondre Owes scored 20 points off the bench and Sean McNally added 14 as Maine ended UAlbany’s three-game winning streak with a 72-61 America East Conference victory on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Alford Sports Arena.

Maine (7-11, AE 2-3) led 32-24 early in the second half, but then pulled away seven straight points. Freshman Gerald McLemore hit a jumper that beat the shot clock. Malachi Peay, a 6-foot-5 sophomore who had 11 points, followed with a conventional three-point play. McNally ended that outburst by converting an offensive rebound.

The Black Bears, who had dropped seven of their previous eight contests, increased their margin to 52-29 with 11:46 remaining. McNally was fouled on a slam dunk for another three-point play, before Peay made two free throws.

The Great Danes almost worked their way back into the contest with 4:18 left behind the play of Will Harris, who had 20 points and eight rebounds. Brian Connelly, who netted 11 of his 13 points in the final period and grabbed nine boards, scored on the left baseline to cut the lead to 60-50. But the Black Bears responded on their next possession when all-league perfomer Mark Socoby canned a three-point field from the right wing. His team’s lead was never seriously threatened after that point.

"They played forty minutes of zone against us and packed it in and sagged,” said UAlbany coach Will Brown, whose team made 38.7 percent of its field goal attempts and committed 18 turnovers on the afternoon. “We were not aggressive against it and they scored off our turnovers. It was not a good overall effort. We were slow, flat and all of the above."

UAlbany (11-7, AE 3-2) looked as cold from the field in the opening half as the sub-zero temperatures outside the arena. The Black Bears employed a trapping 3-2 zone defense that took the visitors out of their rhythm and held them to 29.2-percent shooting in the period.

Maine reversed a 17-16 deficit with a string of 10 unanswered. Socoby, one of four UM players in double figures with 10 points, sank two foul shots to put his team ahead. Owes, a senior guard who tranferred from St. Peter's College two years ago, made consecutive three-pointers, including one from right of the key. Owes, who scored 13 in the half, later connected on a three-point play after his steal for a 29-18 advantage.

Tim Ambrose added 10 points for the Great Danes, who fell out of a tie for first place in the conference standings. Louis Barraza, a sophomore guard, added eight points off the bench.

"I told our team it was easy to get to the top of the standings, but harder to stay there,” added Brown, whose club is off until next Friday when they host Stony Brook at SEFCU Arena. “I have been careful with our team because of their inexperience. That inexperience caught up with us today."