STONY BROOK, New York - The Black Bears faced off Sunday afternoon against the Seawolves in a back and forth affair that saw 14 lead changes and nine ties, with the Seawolves getting the key free-throw to end the game ahead by a single point, 67-66.

Wes Myers tallied his first double-double with Maine as he finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, along with two assists, two blocks, and a steal.

Andrew Fleming had 17 points and seven rebounds, along with three blocks, an assist and a steal.

The Black Bears started off strong with a 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the game, on three straight three-pointers from Ryan Bernstein, Danny Evans, and Andrew Fleming, his first made three since Maine played Providence on December 20th. Fleming would continue his dominance in the early going as he jumped out the lead the team early with nine points, grabbing a steal and winning the race to the other end of the court and threw it down, giving Maine a 20-11 lead on the fast break dunk with 12:01 remaining in the first.

Stony Brook would answer back with a run of their own to cut Maine's lead to one with 7:49 remaining in the first half. Both teams would trade baskets thorughout the final 10 minutes until Stony Brook finally pulled ahead to a six-point lead with a minute remaining in the first, as the first half would end 39-33.

Maine came out firing in the second half, Andrew Fleming had a layup in the first minute to to cut the lead to four, but with the lead back up to six for Stony Brook, Wes Myers would hit a key three-pointer to answer back, cutting the lead to three, and then on the next possession cutting it to one, 41-40 with 16:48 remaining. After a three-pointer from Danny Evans, Wes Myers went to the basket again to put Maine up by four points, 45-41, with 15 minutes to play.

From that point on neither team would hold more than a three point lead, as it was a neck-and-neck contest from then on. With 5:05 remaining in the game, Wes Myers hit a layup on the baseline to give Maine a one-point lead, 63-62. The layup would end up being Maine's last points off of field goals in the game, as Stony Brook answered back with their last field goal, a layup with 4:47 to go, giving Stony Brook the one-point lead back 64-63.

The final six points of the contest were scored from the free-throw line. Wes Myers hit two free throws to put Maine back up 65-64 with four minutes left in the game, only to be answered back by two free throws by Stony Brook with 1:28 remaining, giving Stony Brook the 66-65 lead. With 27 seconds left Jaquan McKennon went hard to the basket and drew a foul, but was unable to make both free-throws, tying the game at 66-all. After a missed three by Stony Brook and a series of loose-ball play, Stony Brook got one final possesion underneath the basket, going to the rim but missing the layup, yet drawing the contact. Making one free-throw, with very little time for Maine to formulate a play out of a timeout, Stony Brook took the victory 67-66.

Maine is back in action on Wednesday evening at rival UNH at 7pm, before returning home next Sunday at the Cross Center for Senior Day against Albany.

-UMaine-