ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears are set to face the UMass Lowell River Hawks in their third conference matchup of the year, losing to UMBC on Sunday 75-64, marking their second conference loss in a row, and seventh overall loss in a row. UML comes in on a three-game wining streak, including conference wins over Albany and Binghamton.
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SCOUTING MAINE
Maine is coming off a tough loss to UMBC in Baltimore on Sunday which saw
Wes Myers once again go off for Maine scoring 28 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
Vincent Eze and
Marko Pirovic both tallied 11 points on the contest;
Ryan Bernstein only scored three points but tallied nine assists in the game.
Myers leads the team in points per game with 15.6, while also contributing 3.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.
Andrew Fleming follows close behind with 10.6 points per game, a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, and 1.1 assists per game, though missed Maine's last game against UMBC, still recovering from injury and illness.
Ryan Bernstein has taken second-place in the conference in assist/to ratio with 3.06. Maine as a whole has shown great strengths in rebounding this season, as they are third in the conference in offensive rebounds per game with 11.41 and second in conference for total rebounds with 607. Maine looks to long-range offense often, as they lead the conference in three-point attempts this season with 411, and are fourth in the conference in made threes with 187.
SCOUTING UML
The River Hawks come into this matchup winning five of their last six games, including a perfect 2-0 in conference so far against UAlbany (85-79) and most recently, Binghamton (79-75). At Binghamton, UML's Jahad Thomas had himself an afternoon, scoring 28 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, dishing five assists, and also tallying a steal. He shot 12-16 from the floor, 4-4 from the free-throw line, and was a key part of keeping Binghamton from closing the gap in the final five minutes.
Thomas leads all River Hawk scorers this season with 17.3 points per game, 20.5 in conference. He is third in points per game in the conference. He's also averaging 8.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Tyler Livingston has 13.3 points per game, along with 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. UMass leads the conference in assists per game with 15.8, and free throw percentage with 78.5%. Of all America East teams, they score the second most points per game with 78.9, and they are third in field goal percentage with 47.9%.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Maine and UMass Lowell have faced off on the court just 13 times in their history, with UML holding the overall record 8-3. Last season the teams split the season series with Maine taking the first matchup in the season 95-81 @ UML on January 13th.
Devine Eke went off for Maine, scoring 25 points and tallying six rebounds. He also blocked two shots.
Kevin Little chipped in with 18 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and
Shaun Lawton had 17 points, two assists, and six steals.
Game 2 of their series last year took place in Bangor where UML took the game in overtime, 108-95. UML's Matt Harris scored 33 points in the game, while also tallying three assists, three steals, and three rebounds. UML also had two players scoring in the 20s, Logan Primerano with 27 and Jahad Thomas with 20.
