ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears finished up a three-game road trip and return home for their last home game of the season, Senior Day, against Albany. This game will be the second to last game of the regular season for the Black Bears, who will travel to Binghamton after this game on Saturday the 25th.
Â
Scouting Maine
The Black Bears are riding a three-game skid since their last home game, a victory against Hartford; they have since faced UMass Lowell, Stony Brook, and UNH, their most recent contest coming last Wednesday where UNH swept the season series with a 64-51 victory over Maine. Three Maine players hit double figures in the game,
Andrew Fleming with 16 points, along with six rebounds,
Vincent Eze with 15 and four rebounds, and
Danny Evans who also tallied four rebounds and a block.
Andrew Fleming averages 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for Maine; he was a three-time America East Rookie-of-the-Week before his mid-season injury, but he's picked up right where he left off in his return.
Ryan Bernstein is ranked 37th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio, with a 2.64; he ranks third in the conference in the stat and averages 3.0 assists per game.
Vincent Eze has taken well to the starter role, taking over as a starter with several teammates out with injury last month; he's now started the last 16 games for Maine, and is averaging 7.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in conference play (5.8 points, 4.6 rebounds overall).
Scouting Albany
The Great Danes have re-taken third place in the conference by handing UMBC their third straight conference loss to leap-frog the Retrievers, 78-69. Devonte Campbell notched a double-double with a 25-point, 10 rebound performance, along with a steal and an assist. Two other Great Danes finished in double figures, David Nichols had 18 points with five rebounds, and Travis Charles had 11 points with three rebounds and a block.
David Nichols leads the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game, a stat in which he's third in the conference. He also is ranked top-20 in the nation in made field goals on the season, a conference-high 192 FGs. Joe Cremo follows close behind with 16.4 points per game, and a team-high 45.8 shooting percentage on the year, ranked fourth in conference. Greig Stire leads the team in rebounds with 6.5, while also averaging 7.5 points per game. Stire is third in conference in the total rebounds stat category with 181 total rebounds on the season.
All-time series
Maine and Albany have faced off a total of 32 times, with Albany holding the all-time advantage with a 19-13 record against Maine. Last season the teams split the season series with Maine winning on January 15th 81-79 at the Cross Center, and then Albany taking their home game at SEFCU, 108-64 on February 14th.
The two teams already met earlier this season at SEFCU Arena on January 22nd, where Albany took the game by score of 81-63.
Wes Myers led Maine with a team-high 18 points, six rebounds, two steals, a block and assist. David Nichols, Devonte Campbell, and Travis Charles had double-figures for Albany, with 28, 13 and 11 points.
-UMaine-
