Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball team begins their 2024 America East Playoffs on Saturday, Mar. 9 at #3 Bryant.

GAME INFORMATION:
DATE: Saturday, Mar. 9
TIME: 2:00 P.M.
SITE: Smithfield, RI
2023/24 REGULAR SEASON RECORDS: #6 Maine 15-16, 7-9 - #3 Bryant 19-12, 11-5
VIDEO: ESPN +
LISTEN: goblackbears.com
LIVE STATS
TWITTER: @maineMBB
GAME NOTES

Last Time Out: Maine came with the victory at 71-65 against UMass Lowell to conclude the 2023-24 regular season. Maine was won 4 of their last 5 contests.

Peter Filipovity was the story of the night as he scored a career-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds.

Quion Burns finished with his first double-double as a Black Bear as he had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Jaden Clayton finished with a stat-stuffing line as he had 11 points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

Maine concludes the regular season with a record of 15-16 and a 7-9 record in America East action.

Black Bear Rankings: Maine concluded the regular season allowing the second-fewest points per game in the America East at 66.9. They ranked 50th in the NCAA for that category.

Maine ranked in the Top-100 national in a number of key categories and in the top-three in the America East, including: Steals per game (37th - Second in America East), turnover margin (78th - First in America East), three-point % defense (31st), fewest turnovers per game (Third in America East) and turnovers forced per game (80th - Second in America East).

Spotlights: Peter Filipovity: Filipovity, a native of Kaposvar, Hungary, concluded his breakout regular season by earning a spot on the America East All-Conference Second Team and a spot on the All-Academic Team. In his Senior season, he averaged a team-high 14.4 points per game, which ranked 12th in the America East, to go along with 7.7 rebounds per game, the fifth most in the America East.

Filipovity had the fourth-most double-doubles in the America East as he had nine such games. He had nine games with 20 or more points, including a season-high 27 in the regular season finale against UMass Lowell. His shooting percentage of 56.6% was the third best percentage in the America East.

Filipovity earned a spot on the All-Academic Team after putting up career-best numbers on the court and pairing it with a 3.52 GPA.

Kellen Tynes: Tynes, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, earned his second-straight America East Defensive Player of the Year award. For the second-straight season, Tynes led all America East players in steals (68) and steals per game (2.27), solidifying himself as one of the best on-ball defenders the America East has ever had. He also registered 12 blocks on the season.

Last season, Tynes was the first Black Bear to ever earn the Defensive Player of the Year award as he led the NCAA in steals. He concludes the 2023-24 regular season ranked 14th in total steals in the NCAA.

To go along with his second-straight Defensive Player of the Year award, Tynes earned his second-straight All-Conference Third Team honors and second-straight All-Defensive Team honors. He averaged the second-most points per game on the Black Bears at 12.7 per game (17th in America East) and the second-most assists per game at 3.6 (7th in America East). He had the sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference (1.5).

Jaden Clayton: Clayton wrapped up the regular season as one of the best facilitators in the America East. He averaged the fifth most assists per game at 4.1, he had the fifth most assists in the conference at 126 and he did so with the fifth best assist-to-turnover ratio in the America East. He assists and assists per game sat just outside the top-100 in the NCAA.

Over the final month of the regular season, Clayton saw his scoring numbers take a huge leap. He averaged 9.3 points per game over his 31 games played, but in his final nine games he averaged 12.8 PPG on 43.8% shooting from the field and 32.4% from three-point range.

Impact at the Forward Position: The Black Bears have run out a trio of small forwards/power forwards on the season that have been a big part of the teams success. The transfer additions of AJ Lopez and Quion Burns, paired with fifth-year forward, Ja'Shonté Wright-McLeish, combined to score 21.5 points per game for the Black Bears.

They hit a combined 93 three-pointer while shooting 33.2% from behind the arc as a group. The trio was just as effective on the defensive end of the floor as they were on the offensive side. They collected 73 steals (led by Wright-McLeish's 40) and have 22 blocks as a group.

One-Two Punch at Center: Kristians Feierbergs and Adam Cisse play two different styles of basketball, but both made big impacts for the Black Bears.

Feierbergs began the season shooting 2-for-17 (11.7%) from three-point range, but since his early season struggles, his numbers rose to shooting 29.7% from behind the arc and he had six of his top-seven scoring performances on the season. He hit a season-high four (on five attempts) three-pointers against UAlbany and another big game of three-made three-pointers against UMBC.

Meanwhile, Cisse has made a much greater impact on the defensive end of the floor. He averaged 1.9 blocks per game in his 19 starts and 1.4 blocks per game overall.

He had a season-high five blocks against Binghamton and he has registered 10 blocks over his past three games (4-3-3).

Program History against Bryant: These will be only the fourth meeting all-time between these two programs and the first post-season matchup against each other.

In the regular season, the two sides split the series at a game apiece, each winning on their respective home courts.

-UMaine-