ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears are set to face the Stony Brook Seawolves after breaking a seven-game losing skid by defeating conference foe UMass Lowell on Wednesday evening, 73-71, giving Maine their first conference win and UML their first conference loss. The Black Bears look to make it two in a row against the Seawolves who have yet to lose a conference game.
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SCOTUING MAINE
Maine snapped a seven-game losing streak spanning all the way back to 2016, as they defeated UMass Lowell on a last-second shot by
Wes Myers, 73-71. Myers scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half, including scoring 14 of Maine's last 19 points in a final 5-minute run where Maine erased a 10-point UML lead.
Ryan Bernstein, who played all 40 minutes in the contest, finished with a career-high 15 points, grabbed five rebounds, and dished six assists on zero turnovers. He also tallied three steals.
Austin Howard also chipped in with 18 points, including a big three-pointer in Maine's final 5-minute run.
Myers leads the team in points per game with 16.4, 29.7 in conference play; he ranks fourth in conference in points per game, and fourt in total points with 296. He also is second in conference in free throws attempted (102) and made (83).
Ryan Bernstein has taken first place in the conference in assist/to ratio with 3.41 after his six assist, zero turnover game against UML. He has 58 assists on the season, averaging 3.2 per game. 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 11.28 and second in conference for total rebounds with 643. Maine looks to long-range offense often, as they lead the conference in three-point attempts this season with 428, and are fourth in the conference in made threes with 142.
SCOUTING STONY BROOK
The Seawolves come off a week of rest after defeating Albany on Sunday on a heroic final 21-0 run that garnered national media attention; the run was finished off by a 0.6 remaining, near-buzzer-beating shot by Tyrell Sturdivant to put the Seawolves ahead 72-70. He finished the game with eight points. Lucas Woodhouse had 21 points and six assists for the Seawolves, and Roland Nyama tallied 15 with two assists.
Lucas Woodhouse leads the Seawolves with 13.8 points per game, and five assists per game; Woodhouse leads the conference in assists per game, and is now second in assist/turnover ratio behind Bernstein with 3.13. Woodhouse also leads the America East in free throw percentage with 93.8; he's ranked third nationally in the category. Tyrell Studivant has 11.5 points per game, and 6.6 rebounds per game. He ranks third in conference with 2.67 offensive rebounds per game. Stony Brook leads the conference as a team in assist/turnover ratio with 1.27, and have the lowest amount of turnovers in the conference with 149, the fourth lowest in the country. They also lead the conference in offensive rebounds per game with 12.33.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Maine and Stony Brook have faced off 24 times in their history, with Stony Brook owning the series 19-15, winning the last 12 matchups. They last faced off last February as Stony Brook traveled up to Bangor and took down Maine 75-56. Jameel Warney had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Seawolves, with Carson Purifoy and Rayshaun McGrew scoring 14 each. For Maine,
Aaron Calixte,
Till Gloger, and
Ilija Stojiljkovic all scored in double figures.
Maine's last victory against Stony Brook came in 2011 on January 22nd at Alfond Arena, when Troy Barnies and Gerald McLemore went off for 17 and 15 points respectively. Barnies had a double-double adding 10 rebounds.
