University of Maine
Fisher
Maine Gets First Win of the Year Against Fisher, 111-64
11/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ORONO, Maine – The Black Bears men's basketball team had five different players tally double-digit point totals as the squad recorded its first win of the season, downing Fisher, 111-64, in Memorial Gym on Sunday afternoon. The win pushes the Black Bear record to 1-1 on the season with Fisher falling to 1-2 overall.
Junior Zarko Valjarevic, led Maine the offense, as he was one of Black Bear's most accurate shooters, going 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also chipped in two free throws.
Dimitry Akanda-Coronel was next on the scoring list as he tallied 17 points, one point off of his career-high that he set at Rhode Island on Friday. Akanda-Coronel shot 7-of-13 from the field, 1-of-3 in three-point attempts and went 2-of-2 from the stripe.
Black Bears freshman Erik Nissen was a surprise addition to the starting lineup as started his first game and shot an impressive 7-of-9 from the floor, 1-of-1 from beyond the arc and 1-of-1 from the stripe as set his career-high in points to 16. He also paced Maine in rebounds taking down nine.
Shaun Lawton and Troy Reid-Knight were the other Black Bears to hit double digits, as both scored 12 total points.
Lawton saw his first action of the season shooting 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, while Reid-Knight shot 5-of-10 from the field and 1-of-2 from three-point land. He also had one free throw added to his point total.
Fisher was paced by Tyler Shular who scored nearly one third of the Fisher points, scoring 20(4-of-10 form the field, 4-of-7 beyond the arc and 8-of-8 from the stripe), with two other Falcons hitting double digits as well, as Orlando Zayas scored 11 and Ira Haywood had 13.
Rebounding and fouls, which plagued the Black Bears in the first game of the season against Rhode Island, went to the Black Bear's favor in this contest, as the team outrebounded the Falcons, 51-31, while committing only 13 fouls to Fisher's 18.
Maine's offense started the game on fire, going on a 22-10 run to open the frame.
Fans witnessed a scary moment midway through the half as Xavier Pollard rushed down the lane after receiving a Valjarevic pass and recorded a layup but was undercut as he jumped in the air landed hard to the floor. He exited the game and didn't return.
The Black Bears continued to roll offensively as Reid-Knight registered a layup in the half's waning seconds to make it 55-24, and paired with Garet Beal with several free throw points later in the minute, to end the half with the Black Bears holding a commanding 57-24 lead at the break.
Maine shot over 50 percent from the field in the first half while holding Fisher to just 22 percent.
In the second half the Black Bears and Fisher traded punches with Maine sustaining their large advantage in the contest.
It wasn't until the last minute of play that Maine recorded its largest lead of the game as Marko Pirovic registered a basket with: 54 seconds to play to give the Black Bears a 50 point lead.
Ira Haywood countered with a trey to make it 111-64 but that's how the game ended with Maine tallying the win.
The 111 points is the most points a Black Bear squad has tallied against the Falcons in the series history (three games played). Maine scored 97 against Fisher last year while they posted 81 against the Falcons in 2007.
The Black Bears head back out on to the road for a Tuesday night showdown in Washington D.C. as the squad takes on George Washington at 7 p.m. Check GoBlackBears.com for live stats and video coverage of that con
