Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program wraps up their four-game road trip on Saturday afternoon at Stony Brook.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Dec. 21, 2024
TIME: 2:00 PM
SITE: Stony Brook, NY - Stony Brook Arena
2023-24 RECORDS: Maine 8-5, Stony Brook 3-8
VIDEO: FloSports
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES

- Last Time Out - 

The University of Maine men's basketball program defeated Canisius to pick up their second-straight win with the 84-79 victory.

After a back-and-forth battle through the opening 10 minutes, the Black Bears started to extend a lead in the closing minutes of the first half as they got it to double-digits at 38-23 on the back of a 12-0 run that lasted until 4:12 remaining in the half. Canisius was able to cut into the Black Bears lead as they got it down to nine as Maine took a 44-35 lead into the break.

Maine shot 62.1% from the field in the first half as eight different Black Bears scored at least one field goal. Christopher Mantis and Killian Gribben both led the way as they each had 8 points off the bench. Jaden Clayton led the Black Bears in rebounds and assists as he had 4 and 6, respectively, to go along with his 5 points. Kellen Tynes had 7 points, 5 assists, a steal and a block.

Canisius got the deficit down to just a single point multiple times, but the Black Bears never gave up their lead in the second half as they picked up the victory on Saturday afternoon, 84-79. Quion Burns finished with a team-high 17 points and 7 rebounds on 8-for-14 shooting from the field. Tynes finished one assist shy of a double-double as he had 15 points and 9 assists. Clayton finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Mantis (15) and Gribben (10) both finished with double-digits in scoring.

- Two-Time Defensive Player of the Year - 

Kellen Tynes is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the America East, an award he was won in back-to-back seasons at the University of Maine. He is the only player in program history to win the award, which in turn has led to him being named a Left Driesell Award Finalist in back-to-back seasons. He led all of the NCAA in steals in 2022-23 with 98. He has 168 steals across his first two seasons with Maine.

To go along with his two DPOY Awards, Tynes has been the second leading scorer for the Black Bears across his two seasons at Maine. He averaged 14.3 PPG in 2022-23 and 12.6 PPG last season, resulting in back-to-back America East All-Conference Third Team selections. Tynes recently scored his 1000th career point as part of a 12-point outing against Holy Cross.

Tynes is currently second in the NCAA with 39 steals on the season. His efforts have the Black Bears ranked as the 71st defense (66.5 points allowed per game) in the country and 45th (15.3) in turnovers forced per game.

-Wings Making Impacts-

Quion Burns and AJ Lopez and making the most of their first season as starters for the Black Bears as they are both ranked in the Top-15 in the America East in scoring. Lopez leads the Black Bears with 13.9 PPG while Burns averages the second-most points with 13.1 PPG.

Burns has scored in double-digits in seven of his last eight games for the Black Bears, including a season-high 21 in a comeback victory over Navy. Lopez has scored in double-digits in 10 of 13 games on the season for Maine and scored a career-high 24 against Fordham.

-Bench Production Ramping Up-

The Black Bears have seen a steady climb in their bench production over their past few games, lead in a major way by Killian Gribben and Christopher Mantis.

The two are combining for 14.4 PPG, but both have registered their season-highs in scoring in the last eight games with 

Mantis scoring 17 against Holy Cross on Nov. 24 and 15 twice. Meanwhile, Gribben scored 12 against Elon on Nov. 29 and 10 against Canisius last time out. Over those games, both are averging over 16 minutes per game.

- Fourth in America East Preseason Poll -

Maine was selected fourth in the America East preseason poll following a 7-9 Conference record last season, which put them in a three-way tie for fourth place. Maine ultimately was the sixth seed in the conference tournament due to tiebreakers.

The fourth place in the preseason poll for the Black Bears is their highest since the 2010-11 season. Maine is looking to host their first ever playoff game since the America East went to a higher-seed hosting format in 2015 and their first postseason victory since the 2004 Black Bears.

- 36 and Counting -

Since taking over at the helm of the Black Bears in the summer of 2022, Chris Markwood has developed the Black Bears into a Top-60 defensive program, which is leading to more victories per season than Maine has seen in over a decade. His 28 wins across his opening two season are the most wins in a two-year span since the 2009-11 Black Bears that won 34 games.

-UMaine-