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Reed, Sheets Lead Men's Basketball Past UMBC
Jan. 16, 2007
ORONO, Maine-- The University of Maine men's basketball team won its second straight America East game with a 70-56 win over UMBC on Tuesday night in Orono, Maine. The Black Bears improve to 7-11 overall and 2-4 in America East play. UMBC falls to 6-12, 2-3 in conference play. Kevin Reed (Yarmouth, Mass.) led Maine with 18 points. Jon Sheets (Grass Valley, Calif.) was named the America East Player of the Game for Maine. He finished with 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. Sheets was 5-of-8 from three-point range. Brian Hodges was named the America East Player of the Game for UMBC. He had a game-high 26 points. He also pulled down six rebounds for the Retrievers. Maine jumped out to an early 6-2 lead behind four early points from Olli Ahvenniemi (Vaasa, Finland). The Black Bears extended their lead to 17-7 after five quick points from Chris Bruff (Bloomfield, Conn.). Maine took a 23-11 lead behind back-to-back three-point field goals by Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine) and Kevin Reed. UMBC stopped the Maine run with a three-point field goal Chris Pugh. Brian Hodges hit a pair of free throws for the Retrievers to bring them to within seven points at 26-19. Jon Sheets hit back-to-back three-point field goals for Maine with just 4:35 minutes remaining in the half and Maine extended its lead to 34-21. Maine took a 37-28 lead into intermission. Sheets led Maine with 11 points, while Chris Bruff added eight points. Maine shot 51.7 percent in the half, marking the sixth straight game that it has shot 50 percent or better in the first half. It was also the fifth straight game that Maine took a lead into intermission.
UMBC was led by Brian Hodges who had 17 of UMBC's 28 first-half points. He also grabbed a team-high four rebounds for the Retrievers. Sheets hit a pair of three-point field goals early in the second half and Maine extended its lead to 49-35 with 15:12 remaining in the game. Maine pushed its lead to 61-39 when Philippe Tchekane Bofia (Yaounde, Cameroon) drained a three-point field goal with over 11 minutes remaining in the game. UMBC used a 6-0 run to cut the Maine lead to 66-52 with just under four minutes remaining in the game, but that is as close as the Retrievers would get. Reed led Maine with 18 points and a team-high six rebounds. Sheets added 17 points as he was 5-of-8 from behind the three-point arc. Chris Bruff chipped in with 12 points and six assists. Olli Ahvenniemi had five blocks to go along with six points and five rebounds. Maine shot 51.9 percent in the game. It is the second straight game that the Black Bears have shot over 50 percent in the game. Brian Hodges led UMBC with 24 points, while Thomas Young added 13. The Black Bears return to action on Thursday, January 18 when they travel to Vermont for a 7 pm game.
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