ALBANY, New York - The Black Bears faced off against Albany for the first of their two match ups of the season, a game that saw several scoring runs for both teams, eventually with Albany getting the last run, winning by a score of 81-63.
Wes Myers for Maine led the team with 18 points, six rebounds, two steals, and an assist and block. He has now scored in double figures in his eigth straight game.
Vincent Eze finished with eight points, four rebounds, and a steal.
Marko Pirovic also chipped in with seven points, four rebounds, and a steal.
The Black Bears found themselves down by eight points early, as Albany opened the game outscoring Maine 13-5 in the first seven minutes of the game. An 11-0 run later in the half would eventually put Albany up big with a score of 31-13 with five minutes remaining in the first half. Maine would battle back in the closing five minutes on a couple clutch baskets from
Ilija Stojiljkovic,
Jaquan McKennon, and eventually
Danny Evans who would hit a three-pointer with seven seconds left in the half, cutting the Albany lead to 11, as they lead at halftime 33-22.
The second half began with Maine following up the momentum of that late three-pointer by starting a 13-4 run, as
Wes Myers found his stride and scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, and
Vincent Eze who made some key free-throws in the run. The Black Bears would cut the lead to two points at one point, but Albany made sure that was as close as Maine would get, as they went on to another big run, this time outscoring Maine 13-0 for a 56-38 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half. From that point forward Albany carried a comfortable lead over the Black Bears, leading by as much as 24 points. They would go on to win by a final score of 81-63.
The Black Bears will have a week-long break during their cluttered conference schedule this week, and will return to action next Sunday, January 29th at the Cross Insurance Center against Binghamton for Alumni Day. For tickets, visit
Ticketmaster.com or the Cross Center box office.
