ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears are amongst a two-game homestand, with their second-to-last regular season home game of the year taking place against the Hartford Hawks on Monday night at 7pm; the Black Bears are riding a seven-game conference losing skid, looking to bounce back against Hartford, who are currently riding a similar five-game conference skid after their victory against Maine last month.
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SCOUTING MAINE
Maine is coming off a rough loss to the UMBC Retrievers on Saturday afternoon, a game that saw both teams trading leads in the first half and a late Maine run to try to extend the game to overtime, but when all was said and done UMBC handed Maine another conference loss, 83-71.
Wes Myers tallied a new career-high in points with 33, while
Vincent Eze also notched a near career high in his point total of 15.
Myers leads the team in points per game with 17.4, 22.7 in conference play; he ranks third in conference in points per game.
Andrew Fleming follows close behind in the scoring column with 10.0 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Ryan Bernstein is ranked 25th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio, with a 2.93; he ranks second in the conference in the stat and averages 3.2 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 12 games for Maine, and is averaging 8.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in conference play (5.6 points, 4.7 rebounds overall).
SCOUTING HARTFORD
The Hawks are coming in on a similar tough streak; their last victory was against Maine last month. Their most recent game was Saturday against the Vermont Catamounts, who remained undefeated in conference with thier 79-66 victory over the Hawks. For Hartford, Hassan Attia notched his first career double-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds. Hartford had two other players in double figures in the game, Jason Dunne with 16 off the bench and Jalen Ross with 15.
The Hawks are led in scoring by Jalen Ross, who averages 20.2 points, 18.0 in conference play. Jason Dunne averages 13.1 points, as he splits time as a starter but has come off the bench in three games this season. Hassan Attia leads the team in rebounds this season with 5.8 per game, he's averaging 6.3 points per game.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Maine and Hartford are perennial contenders, and are known to often split season series' as they did last season; Maine winning the first matchup in January at Hartford, 105-100 in overtime, and Hartford taking the matchup in Bangor, Maine, by a score of 82-74. Hartford leads the overall series 39-29.
These two teams met earlier in the season at Hartford, in a low-scoring contest that saw the Hawks taking the victory by a final score of 54-44. For Maine,
Vincent Eze and
Wes Myers scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points, and for Hartford Jalen Ross led all scorers with 19 points, Jason Dunne with 10.
-UMaine-
