BANGOR, Maine - Maine returned home to the Cross Center for the first time since December 7th to face the Columbia Lions, who took control of the game early with their long-distance shooting and took down Maine 98-73, giving Maine their 5th loss in a row.

Danny Evans had a career day for Maine, finishing with 16 points on 5-8 shooting (2-5 from three) and five defensive rebounds. He also was perfect from the free-throw line (4-4) and also tallied one assist, one block, and one steal.

Marko Pirovic also shot 5-8 from the field and 1-3 from three to give him 13 points, he also grabbed four rebounds and assisted on one shot.

Wes Myers had 10 points for Maine, most of his points coming at the free-throw line where he went 6-8, also grabbing two steals and two assists.

Ryan Bernstein managed to grab six rebounds on the afternoon, tying his career high for defensive rebounds, and also dished out four assists. Other key Black Bears were Jaquan McKennon (nine points, two assists), Austin Howard (seven points, two assists), Aaron Calixte (seven points, two assists), and Andrew Fleming (six points, five rebounds, one block)

The two teams matched up evenly in the early going, with Maine leading with 13:26 left in the first half 11-10 on a layup by Marko Pirovic. Columbia would then go on a 15-3 run spurred by their strong three-point shooting effort. They ended the first half with 50% three-point shooting. Columbia never looked back in the first half, leading by as much as 17 points in the half. Maine would make a run back and cut the lead to seven points with 1:33 left in the first half, making the score 44-37 in Columbia's favor. The first half ended with Columbia in the lead 49-39.

The second half started off with Maine cutting the lead to six points on baskets from Andrew Fleming and Austin Howard, but a 7-0 Columbia run returned them to their comfortable lead. They would then go on to lead by as much as 27 points in the second half, ultimately ending with the final score of 98-73.

Maine is back in action at the Cross Center on Thursday, January 5th at 7PM to face conference foe Vermont in their America East opener. For tickets, please visit TicketMaster.com or the Cross Insurance Center box office.

-UMaine-