ORONO, Maine -- The Maine Black Bears (6-23, 3-11 America East) concludes its final regular season road trip of the 2017-18 season by visiting UAlbany (20-9, 8-6 AE) on Saturday night. The tip at SEFCU Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. in New York's State Capital.
LAST TIME OUT: In a game that featured 19 lead changes, the Maine Black Bears could not prevent a late UMass Lowell scoring run, falling 88 to 76 on Wednesday night at the Tsongas Center. Maine trailed by just one point at 72-71, but the River Hawks (11-16, 5-9 AE) ended the contest on a 16-5 in the final 6:26 to put the game on ice. Four Black Bears reached double-figures in scoring, led by
Aaron Calixte's 18 points. The redshirt junior dished six assists, grabbed five rebounds, and tallied a block and a steal in 35 minutes played.
THE SERIES: The Great Danes lead the all-time series by a count of 22-13, earning wins in the last FOUR contests. Maine last defeated UAlbany on Jan. 15, 2016, when the Black Bears downed the defending America East Champions 81-79 at the Cross Insurance Center.
Aaron Calixte notched 16 points, shooting 5-of-9 from the floor in the victory.
THE LAST MEETING: On Jan. 13 at the Cross Insurance Center, the Black Bears fell behind early and could not comeback from the early deficit, falling 84-66 to UAlbany. Three Black Bears reached double-figures in scoring, led by
Calixte's 16 points. The Black Bears struggled to get the offense going in the first half, but outscored the Great Danes 56-36 over the final 20 minutes.
A LOOK AT UALBANY: Since the Black Bears and Great Danes last met on Jan. 13, UAlbany has gone 6-4 in conference play for a 20-9 overall record. Currently sitting in fourth place in the America East, the Great Danes clinched hosting rights in the first round of the America East playoffs. At SEFCU Arena this season, UAlbany has been dominant; Winning 12 of 14 contests at home. Winners of four of its last six, the Great Danes fell in its last matchup to second place UMBC by a score of 68-60. Three of the top-10 scorers in the America East hail from UAlbany, the most of any team in the conference. Joe Cremo leads the crew with 17.6 points per game the third most points in the conference. David Nichols ranks eight (14.9 ppg), while Travis Charles is 10
th, averaging 14.8 points per contest. As a team, the Great Danes sport the third best scoring offense (74.3 ppg) and scoring defense (68.4 points allowed per game), and lead the league in free throw percentage (.757) and rebounding margin (Plus-6.6).
WIN AND IN: With a win against the Great Danes, Maine will clinch an America East playoff berth. The quarterfinal round of the America East Tournament will take place on March 3 at the higher seed's home court.
VERNON'S RESURGENCE: Against UMass Lowell,
Vernon Lowndes Jr. put together his best offensive performance against conference foes and his second best point output this season with 16 points against the River Hawks. Lowndes Jr. made 7-of-12 shots from the floor, grabbed six rebounds, and collected two blocks in 25 minutes of action. The 16 points marks the most since his career-high of 20 points against Quinnipiac on Nov. 26. On the season, the Charleston, South Carolina native is shooting an even 50 percent (58-for-116) from the floor to lead the Black Bears.
DOUBLE-FIGURE FLEMING: As the conference season is reaching its end,
Andrew Fleming has been playing his best stretch of basketball this season. The sophomore scored 10-plus points in six of his last seven contests. In two of his last five games, he netted 16 points, which matches his season-high. In 14 America games this season, Fleming is averaging 10.5 points and five rebounds per contest. Over 57 career games, the South Paris, Maine native has reached 10-plus points in 27 contests.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: With Calixte's sensational regular season coming to a close, his name will be etched in the record books in several categories. With 1,070 career points entering Saturday's contest, he ranks 23
rd all-time in program history in points, just one point behind Andy Bedard. If he hits his season average (16.8 ppg.) over the final two regular season games, Calixte will pass Bedard (1,071 pts.), John Gillette (1,072 pts.), Rich Henry (1,074 pts.), Huggie Dye (1,076 pts.), Kevin Nelson (1,089 pts.) and Julian Dunkley (1,104 pts.) to sit in 17
th place on the career points list. He will also move into 10
th place all-time in points in a single season by averaging 16.8 points per game over his final two contests of the regular season. From beyond the arc, Calixte has made 112 3-pointers in his career, which ranks 15
th in school history, while Calixte's 282 career assists sits him at 12
th all-time. With two regular season games left, plus possible playoff games on top of another year of eligibility, Calixte has an opportunity to be among the best to ever don the UMaine jersey.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST: Over his seven six games, Calixte has made 33 of his last 34 free throw attempts, increasing his season free throw percentage to 904 percent. The percentage leads the America East, and ranks 11th in all of Division I basketball. In comparison, he converts shots from the charity stripe at a higher clip than the most efficient shooter in five of the 'power conferences'. The conference leaders that Calixte ranks ahead of include the ACC (Joel Berry II, North Carolina, 89.6%) Big 10 (Miles Bridges, Michigan State, 89.5%), Big 12 (Manu Lecomte, Baylor, 87.3 percent), and the Pac-12 (Justin Bibbins, Utah, 87.7 percent), and SEC (Daryl Macon, Arkansas 87.7 percent). Earlier this season, Calixte broke the UMaine school-record for consecutive free throws made in a season against Columbia on Dec. 30, sinking his 33rd and 34thstraight attempts in the second half. The 57-year old school record was set in the 1960-61 season by Black Bear great Skip Chappelle. Calixte's streak spanned 11 total games, ending at 37 consecutive makes against Stony Brook on Jan. 3.
UP NEXT: The Black Bears will have a quick turnaround, hosting Vermont on Tuesday night. The opening tip is slated for 7:00 p.m. for senior day and the regular season finale.
