WASHINGTON – The UMaine men's basketball team fought hard against BIG EAST foe Georgetown, but ultimately fell to the Hoyas, 76-55 on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. Aaron Calixte led the Black Bears offensively with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.
 
Calixte collected five rebounds, a steal, and only turned the ball over twice in 33 minutes played. Four of his six field goals came on layups, as the redshirt junior often converted contested drives to the hoop into points. He has tallied at least 17 points in each of his last four games, and reached double-figures in scoring in six of seven games this season.
 
Off the bench, Ilker Er added 13 points and caromed a team-high six rebounds, while Dennis Ashley contributed eight points on an efficient 3-for-5 shooting from the floor. Vernon Lowndes Jr. registered six points, three rebounds, two blocks and three steals in 29 minutes played.
 
Maine (1-6) fell behind early, as Georgetown (5-0) embarked on an 11-2 run to start the game to force an early Maine timeout. The Black Bears slowly clawed back into the game, climbing back coming within 11 points at 25-14 after Calixte's second layup of the contest. The Hoyas eventually took a 40-24 lead into halftime.
 
The Black Bears hung tough in the second half, only getting outscored by a 36-31 clip in the final 20 minutes. A Lowndes Jr. layup with 9:34 remaining cut Maine's deficit to just 12 at 54-42, but Georgetown ensued on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.
 
The Black Bears held the Hoyas below their average of 85 points per game, and were only out-rebounded  by just one (36-35). Georgetown held a rebound-margin of plus-14.5 entering the game. Maine also held Georgetown significantly below their 47.1 percent 3-point field goal percentage (22.8 percent, 4-for-18), as the Hoyas were ranked fourth in the country in the category before today's game. 
 
Maine held advantages in blocks (5-4), offensive rebounds (14-13), and bench points (32-19).
 
The Hoyas had five scorers reach double-figures, with Kaleb Johnson leading Georgetown with a game-high 18 points.
 
Maine resumes game action on Saturday, when the Black Bears travel to the Big Apple to play Fordham in the finale of the three-game road trip. The opening tip is set for 2:00 p.m. at Rose Hill Gymnasium.  
 
-UMaine-