ORONO, Maine – After just two home games in the past nine contests, the Maine Black Bears (4-16, 1-4 AE) return home to the Cross Insurance Center for four of its next five, starting with a Thursday night matchup against Hartford (10-9, 3-2 AE). The tip against the Hawks is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Bangor.
 

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COACH WALSH CHALK TALK: Before every home America East Conference game, fans can hear Coach Bob Walsh breakdown the upcoming game on the club level (third floor) of the Cross Insurance Center behind the Maine bench. Thursday's edition of Chalk Talk will start at 6:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Down by just 10 points with less than four minutes to go in the second half, the Maine Black Bears could not prevent a late run by Vermont, falling 83-62 on Monday night at Patrick Gymnasium. Aaron Calixte (7-12 FG, 3-7 3PT) and Ilker Er (6-15, 3-6 3PT) combined for 37 of Maine's 62 points on the night. The combo of Calixte and Er shot 55 percent from the floor, (13-27 FG), while connecting on 46 percent of shots from beyond the arc (6-13).
 
THE SERIES: Hartford leads Maine in the all-time series by a 38-30 mark. The Black Bears and Hawks split victories last season, with Maine earning a 52-41 win in the last meeting in a defensive battle at the Cross Insurance Center. Andrew Fleming recorded a game-high 11 points, while grabbing eight rebounds in that matchup. Maine held Hartford to shoot just 21.4 percent for the floor (12-56), including just 14.3 percent (4-28) from beyond the arc in the contest.
 
A LOOK AT HARTFORD: The Hawks are winners of seven of their last 10 entering Thursday, holding a 3-2 record in conference play. The Hawks opened America East play with an impressive 72-64 win over UAlbany in New York's state capital, but fell in its last matchup to UMBC 78-67, in Baltimore on Monday. The Retrievers held the Hawks to shoot 34.5 percent from the floor (19-55) and 24 percent (6-25) from long distance. While the Hawks shot poorly against UMBC, Hartford was on fire the previous game against Binghamton on Jan 13. Tyler Weatherington led the charge with 34 points on a superb 12-of-14 shooting from the field, including a near perfect 10-of-11 from 3-point land. The Hawks combined to shoot 18-for-23 from long distance in the contest. John Carroll leads Hartford with 16.8 points per game, while Jason Dunne puts in 14.8 per contest, and J.R. Lynch adds in 12.5 per game. The Hawks like to shoot from distance, ranking 55^th nationally in 3-pointers taken, while earning a 74^th ranking in the country in 3-pointers made. Dunne has made the 33rd most 3-pointers in the nation this season, with 55 so far. Hassan Attia averages over two blocks per contest, with 40 swats in 19 games.
 
CALIXTE IN CONFERENCE: In five conference games this season, redshirt junior Aaron Calixte ranks fourth in the America East with 19.6 points per game. He leads the America East with in field goal percentage (33-for-52, 63.5 percent) which is over 10 percentage points better than second place Travis Charles of UAlbany (52.8 ). The Stoughton, Massachusetts native hasn't only excelled in scoring, distributing 4.2 assists per game in conference play ranking third marks the third best in the America East.
 
INCREDIBLE ILKER: In two of his last four games, Ilker Er has found his shooting touch. He recorded a career-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field against Binghamton on Jan. 6, while tallying 18 points against Vermont in Maine's last contest. In those two games, Er combined to shoot 55 percent from the floor (16-29) and 45 percent from beyond the arc (5-11).
 
SECOND HALF SUCCESS: The final 20 minutes have been Maine's strength this season, as the Black Bears have combined to outscore the opposition by a clip of 751-745 in 20 games this season. The Black Bears have only outscored their opponents in the second half in 2 of their first 13 games, but have accomplished the feat in six of their last seven contests.
 
UP NEXT: The Black Bears will have the weekend off, before hosting rival UNH for the 192^nd all-time meeting against the Wildcats. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. on Beach Night at the Cross Insurance Center.
 
-UMaine-