University of Maine
LIU Brooklyn
Second Half Surge Sinks Maine Men's Basketball
12/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BANGOR, Maine- The LIU Brooklyn men's basketball team used a strong second-half offensive push to sink the Black Bears, 83-70 at the Cross Insurance Center, Tuesday night. The loss drops the Black Bears to 1-7 overall while gives the Blackbirds their first win of the year at 1-6.
The Black Bears looked to control its own destiny after the first half as the squad took a 34-30 lead into the break but LIU Brooklyn overwhelmed the Maine defense scoring 53 points in the second half while shooting a scorching 58 percent from beyond the arc.
The Black Bears were unable to match the second-half point production as the team was outscored 53-36 in the final frame.
Shaun Lawton led the Black Bear offense with 16 points as he also chipped six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal to complete his stat-line. Garet Beal had his best statistical day of the season as he dropped in 14 points and nine rebounds, just missing the double-double. Zarko Valjarevic was the only other Maine player to register double-figures as the senior scored 12 points, going 4-of-10 from beyond the arc and chipping in two rebounds and one assist.
For the Blackbirds, four different players reached double-figures as Elvar Fridricksson led the way with 19 points and seven assists. Landon Atterberry (16 points), Iverson Fleming and Gerrell Martin (10 points) were the others to reach double-digits.
As a team the Black Bears shot 42 percent from the field but an icy 33 percent from long range including 18.8 percent (8-of-24) in the second half. Meanwhile the trey sparked the LIU Brooklyn run in the second half as they went 10-of-17 from beyond the arc.
The Blackbirds outrebounded the Black Bears 38-30 while turnovers were even as both turned it over 12 times.
LIU Brooklyn got out to a quick start as the squad held a 6-point advantage with 16 minutes remaining in the half as the squad went on a 10-4 run capped by a Martin layup.
Maine then narrowed the gap thanks to Lawton and Christian Ejiga as Maine went on a run of its own to notch its largest lead of the half of six points as Beal laid in a bucket to make it 22-16.
The Blackbirds tied the game at the 7:39 mark of the first frame as Martin Hermannsson drianed a long-range shot to make it 22-22, but Maine fought hard, going on a 12-8 run to head into the break with the lead.
In the second half the Blackbirds wasted little time in wrestling the lead away from Maine as a pair of treys but LIU Brooklyn tied the game and a layup at the 17:38 mark of the second half by Nura Zanna gave the Blackbirds a lead it would never relinquish.
The Blackbirds went on to outscore Maine 53-36 in the final stanza, shooting 60 percent in the that last frame to seal the victory.
Maine gets right back at it Thursday when the team travels to Boston, Mass., to take on Boston College. That game is scheduled to be on ESPN3 and is slated to tip off at 7:00 p.m.
