Charlotte, N.C. – The University of Maine men's basketball team fell in the season opener at Charlotte, 69-52.
 
AJ Lopez led Maine with 13 points off the bench while Ja'Shonté Wright-McLeish added nine.

Kellen Tynes got the Black Bears first basket of the season 1:43 into the opening half of the contest.
 
Wright-McLeish picked up a pair of steals in the opening four minutes as the Black Bears looked the pick up where they left off a season ago as the best stealing team in the America East and one of the best in the country.
 
Charlotte went on a 15-4 run midway through the first half to take a 26-13 lead.
 
Jaden Clayton knocked down a three-pointer heading into the final media timeout of the first half to help stabilize the Black Bears and go on a run to end the first half.
 
Maine went on a 9-0 run to end the first half, capped off by a Clayton turnaround jumper to head into halftime trailing 27-34.
 
Six different Black Bears scored at least four points in the opening half while Peter Filipovity led the Black Bears in the rebound department with four boards. Wright-McLeish had three first half steals.
 
The two sides had a back-and-forth battle throughout the opening minutes of the second half as the lead stayed at seven for Charlotte through the first media timeout at 16 minutes remaining in the contest.
 
Charlotte moved their lead back to 14 points before the Black Bears went on a small 5-0 stretch to bring the deficit back to single-digits.
 
The 49er's answered with a 7-0 run of their own as they pushed the lead to 58-42 with 8:49 remaining in the contest.
 
Charlotte would hold its lead, ending the game with a 69-52 victory over the Black Bears.
 
Maine shot 33.3% from the field and 25% from three-point range in the loss. The Black Bears picked up nine steals and one block on the defensive end of the ball.
 
Maine (0-1) returns to Orono on Wednesday night to host UMaine Preqsue Isle at The Pit. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
-UMaine-