PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island - The Black Bears looking to bounce back from a 2-game losing skid took on Brown University in a Thursday afternoon shootout which saw both teams leading by significant amounts throughout the game; while Maine held a 13 point lead at halftime, Brown would come back to outscore the Black Bears 55-37 in the second half, leading to a final score of 82-77.

Andrew Fleming had a career day, notching his second game in a row with a double-double (the second of his career), with a career-high 23 points on a career-high nine made field goals, and 14 rebounds, which beats out his old career-high of 11 at Providence on Tuesday evening. Six of those rebounds came on the offensive glass, another career-high for him in the game. Fleming also had two assists and a block.

Wes Myers was key in Maine's second half efforts, he ended the day with 16 points, three rebounds and an assist. He also blocked three shots, a career-best for him as a Black Bear.

Austin Howard matched his best 3-point shooting performance of the season with another 4-6 effort from beyond the arc, he finished with 14 points, three rebounds, and an assist.

Maine also saw good 3-point shooting from Marko Pirovic, who was 2-3 from three, as he finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and a steal.

The game was a back-and-forth affair for most of the first half, with two ties and six lead changes in the first half; eventually Maine found the formula to rack up the points as Andrew Fleming exploded in the first half for 16 points on 7-8 shooting from down low, as he found ways to get open on consistently; Marko Pirovic shot 3-6 in the first half, including a three-pointer, to bring his total to 8 points. Maine held a lead over Brown at the end of the first half, 40-27.

Maine led by as much as 16 points over the course of the game, but Brown came out in the second period with the hot hands on their three-point shooters; Brown shot 46.7% from behind the arc in the second half, with at one point five straight Brown shots were good three-pointers. Brown took the lead with 9:59 to go and would lead by as much as 10 on that run.

With 3:37 remaining, Maine was down by nine, when Wes Myers drove the lane to get a layup and foul, which he then made the free-throw for, cutting the lead to six. From that point, Myers took over in an attempt to keep Maine in contention. Another layup a minute later cut the lead to three. After two Brown free-throws, Myers would hit a clutch three-pointer to cut the lead to two, which is the closest Maine would get after giving up the lead in the second half. Myers had 10 points in the second half.

The game ended on back and forth free-throw efforts by both teams, with the last Maine offensive play being Austin Howard hitting a 3-pointer with three seconds left, cutting the Brown lead to four points. Howard had 11 points in the second half on 3-4 three-point shooting.

Maine is off for a week but will be back in action on the 30th at Buffalo at 7pm, before returning home in the new year to face Columbia on the 2nd of January. That game is at 2pm.

-UMaine-