University of Maine
Fla. Gulf Coast
Men's Basketball Falls to Florida Gulf Coast
12/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The University of Maine men's basketball team fell to Florida Gulf Coast 84-72 on Thursday evening in Fort Myers, Fla. Maine is now 6-5 on the year while Florida Gulf Coast goes to 5-7. The Black Bears were led by America East Player of the Game Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif.) who had a game-high 26 points.
McLemore got Maine off to a good start, nailing a three-pointer, but the Eagles came back to score nine-straight points through the first three minutes.
A Fraser layup and McLemore got Maine back within one a short time later, but the hot-shooting Eagles eventually took a 34-22 lead with just under five minutes left, and it was still a 12-point edge at 36-24 with 3:20 left.
However, Maine finished the half on a 16-to-4 run with Raheem Singleton (Boston, Mass.) making a three-pointer with one second left to bring the Black Bears within 40-36.
McLemore had 12 points in the first stanza while Singleton had seven and two assists.
In the second half, McLemore gave Maine the lead 41-40 on a layup with 16:19 left, and the teams proceeded to exchange baskets until midway through the half when the Eagles took a 60-54 lead.
However, a Svetoslav Chetinov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) layup followed a Singleton bucket tied the game at 60 with just under nine minutes left.
Florida Gulf Coast scored the next five points before McLemore answered with a three, and a Mike Allison (Lynden, Ontario) dunk after a pair of Eagle free throws shrunk the Eagle lead to 67-65 with six minutes left.
Florida Gulf Coast got in the bonus, and was able to push the lead to seven courtesy of free throws and a layup.
Maine continued to battle, but the free throws were too much for the Black Bears to overcome.
Singleton finished with 12 points and four assists while freshman Kilian Cato (Espoo, Finland) added eight points and four rebounds.
Florida Gulf Coast shot 46.9 percent from the field while Maine shot 39.7 percent. The Eagles went 30-37 from the free throw line while Maine was 11-20.
