Box Score Tampa, FL – The University of Maine men's basketball team took down South Florida on Wednesday night, 70-59.
 
The Black Bears came out of the gates hot as they knocked down five of their first eight shots to move to a 12-4 lead in the opening five minutes of the contest. Ja'Shonté Wright-McLeish had eight early points, including two three-pointers.
 
South Florida answered the early Black Bear surge with an 8-0 of their own coming out of the opening media timeout to time up the contest at 12-12.
 
The Black Bears responded with a 12-1 run to push out to a double-digit lead at 24-13 with 9:19 remaining in the first half.
 
South Florida ended the first half on a 9-2 run, cutting the Black Bear lead to a two-point lead entering halftime, 31-29.
 
Peter Filipovity was all over the stat sheet with a game-high 11 points, a team-high six rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Wright-McLeish had eight points in the first half while Jaden Clayton and Kellen Tynes had seven combined assists in the first half.
 
Maine opened up the second half on a 7-0 run across the first two minutes to push their lead back to nine points.
 
The Black Bears pushed their lead to their largest of the contest at 13 points with 14:46 remaining in the second half following a Clayton layup.
 
Maine continued to hold nearly a double-digit lead throughout the second half as they defeated South Florida, 70-59.
 
Maine never trailed in the contest as they forced 11 turnovers out of South Florida and held them to just 35.4% shooting from the field and only 10% (2-for-20) from three-point range.
 
Peter Filipovity turned in a career day as he scored a career-high 22 points (9-for-16) and added 11 rebounds in the double-double effort.
 
Ja'Shonté Wright-McLeish (16) and Jaden Clayton (12) rounded out the top three scorers for the Black Bears.
 
Maine (4-3) heads to Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 25. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 P.M.
 
-UMaine-