ORONO, Maine – After another tight loss to a conference foe, the Maine Black Bears seek their fourth win at the Cross Insurance Center on Sunday afternoon, when Maine hosts UAlbany. The opening tip is slated for 1:00 p.m. in Bangor. The contest will be broadcasted live on ESPN 3 and can be heard on the radio waves on WGUY 96.1 FM and on goblackbears.com.
The contest will mark the annual 'Spread Respect' game. Continuing its dedication to fostering leadership on and off the field, the America East Conference will again sponsor Spread Respect nights at select games this winter. Spread Respect games, formerly branded
You Can Play Nights, were created with the purpose of furthering awareness and education to ensure equality, respect and safety for all athletes without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. That respect also extends to race, ethnicity, gender, religion and more.
LAST TIME OUT: Despite five double-figure scorers and its best shooting-performance in America East play, the University of Maine men's basketball team could not keep up with the high-octane Hartford Hawks offense, falling 81-73 on Wednesday night at Chase Arena.
Dennis Ashley (6-11 FG, 4-6 3PT) and
Andrew Fleming (6-13 FG) both tallied 16 points in the contest for the Black Bears (5-21, 3-8 AE) The game marked Fleming's ninth career double double, as he grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds against the Hawks, while also distributing six assists. Ashley's 16 points are a new career-high, previously reaching 11 points on Dec. 10, 2017 against Maine-Machias.
Sergio El Darwich (4-9 FG, 2-4 3PT),
Vincent Eze (4-7 FG) and
Isaiah White (4-7 FG, 2-3 3PT) all tallied 10 points in Maine's second game this season with five double-figure scorers.
LAST MEETING AGAINST UALBANY: Owning a 16-point lead with 2:41 left in the second half, the Maine Black Bears men's basketball team hung on long enough to defeat UAlbany 66-62 for its first conference win on Saturday afternoon at SEFCU Arena.
Sergio El Darwich led four Black Bear double-figure scorers by matching career-highs in points (26) and rebounds (8). The Black Bears (3-15, 1-2 AE) made 12 of its 28 attempted 3-pointers, the most Maine has made this season and the most since converting 14 treys against Quinnipiac last season (11/26/17). The Black Bears made 10 of its 13 free throws (76.9 percent), outshooting the Great Danes (4-12, 0-2 AE), who converted just 55 percent of its attempts from the charity-stripe (11-20 FT). Of Maine's 22 made field goals, 17 came off assists.
THE SERIES: UAlbany leads the all-time series by a 23-14, as Maine snapped a Great Dane five-game winning streak in the series earlier this season. The win was Maine's first over UAlbany since Maine defeated the Great Danes at the Cross Insurance Center on Jan. 15, 2016. The Black Bears last defeated the Great Danes in Albany eight years ago to the date on Jan. 12, 2011 in a similar 66-64 game. Albany had previously won nine in a row in the Empire State's capital. Maine seeks its first season sweep over UAlbany since the 2009-10 season.
SCOUTING MAINE: Maine shot above 50 percent and lost for just the second time this season in its last game against Hartford. The shooting performance of .518 was Maine's best during conference play and fourth best overall. The game marked the second time this season and the second time against Hartford that the Black Bears had five players reach double-figures in scoring.
Dennis Ashley became the seventh Black Bear this season to total 15-plus points in a single game, as the Los Angeles native knocked down 4-of-6 from long distance and 6-of-11 overall for a career-high 16 points against the Hawks. After Fleming scored 16 points against the Hawks, he now stands at 962 career points, just 38 away from reaching the 1,000 point club.
SCOUTING UALBANY: The Great Danes have been a streaky team in conference play this season, falling in their first four games, including two overtime losses, but bounced back to defeat Hartford (84-77), New Hampshire (62-42) and Binghamton (64-50) in succession to bring its record back up to 3-4 in AE play. Since then, UAlbany dropped a contest to first-place Vermont (67-49) on Feb. 9 and fell in its last game against UMass Lowell (86-54) on Feb. 13. Ahmad Clark does it all for the Great Danes, leading the team in scoring (16.8 ppg), assists (4.3 apg), steals (2.2) and blocks (0.3). Cameron Healy has been a force during conference play, scoring a team-high 17.5 ppg. He is shooting at a .391 clip from long distance and is nearly perfect from the free throw line (.931).
UP NEXT: After the contest with the Seawolves, Maine will be off until Saturday, Feb. 23 when the Black Bears trek to Long Island to battle Stony Brook. The Saturday night contest is set for 7:00 p.m. at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
-UMaine-
