University of Maine
Hartford
Little's 25 Points Sparks Maine Men's Hoops' Upset Over Hartford, 70-61
1/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Kevin Little shattered his former career-high in points, with 25 as the Black Bears stunned the Hartford Hawks, 70-61 in West Hartford, Conn., Sunday afternoon. The win is the first time the Black Bears have defeated Hartford on the road since 2010. The win improves the Black Bears to 2-18 overall and 1-6 in America East play, while Hartford drops to 11-9 and 4-3 in conference.
It was a day of firsts for the Black Bears as the squad picked up its first road win as well as its first conference win under head coach Bob Walsh.
Kevin Little, who came into the contest with a career-high of 15, shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, and 8-of-16 for the game. He had help from senior Zarko Valjarevic who scored 14, including two key 3-pointers towards the end of the contest, and Till Gloger who recorded his first double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
For Hartford, Mark Nwakamma paced the offense with 22 points, but was shut down towards the latter part of the second half. The only other player to hit double-figures was Justin Graham as he notched 11.
Maine refused to be outrebounded as they ended the game tied in the boards department, 37-37 and limited turnovers to 11 for the game.
The Black Bears got off to a great start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead thanks to five points by Little, giving Maine the early advantage.
Nwakamma got the Hawks back into it with back-to-back buckets as the squad cut the lead to 7-6 with 14:41 left in the half.
The two team's traded punches as neither squad led by more than four points until the 4:56 mark of the first frame. With the score 22-18, Troy Reid-Knight buried a trey and Aaron Calixte dashed into the paint one possession later and dropped in a layup, to give Maine a six point lead, 24-18.
Maine got it out even further minutes later as a Shaun Lawton 3-point attempt rimmed out, but it was corralled by Gloger who found Valjarevic and the Serbian native hit his second 3-pointer of the half to make it 29-21.
A layup by Yolonzo Moore II and three free throw makes by Taylor Dyson cut the lead to 29-26 but that's how the score would stay as the two squads headed to the break.
Gloger openend the second half with a bucket as Little found him alone under the hoop, passing from near midcourt to make it 31-26. Calixte followed that up two possessions later as he made it 33-26.
Corban Wroe diced into the paint and knotted the score up at 42-42 at the 11:45 mark, as a 16-9 run thanks to Nwakamma helped even the score.
Nwakamma surfaced once again to give the Hawks their first lead of the half as he hit a jumper with 11:08 left in the frame, making it 44-42.
Little drew a foul several possessions later and hit both free-throw chances to even it at 44-44 with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
The long ball gave Maine fits as Taylor Dyson and Corban Wroe hit back-to-back treys to take the lead 50-46 with 8:46 left in the game.
Valjarevic helped Maine fight back as he drained a trey to retake the lead with 5:41 left in the game to make it 56-53.
Taylor Dyson got the game to within one at the 5:40 mark of the game as he hit a jumper to make it 56-55, but Little responded right away with a 3-pointer with the assist credited to Valjarevic to give Maine breathing room.
The lead got out to eight as Lawton hit a layup and Valjarevic hit a clutch trey to make it 65-57.
The senior leader later cemented the game with another big-time trey at the 1:12 mark of the game as Reid-Knight credited was with the asssit.
Hartford never got closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Black Bears earned the 70-61 win.
Maine attempts two-straight wins on Wednesday night as the team hosts rival New Hampshire as Rivalry Week continues at Maine. The tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
