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Black Bears Fall to Great Danes in Men's Basketball
ORONO, Maine- Jamar Wilson scored a game-high 30 points to lead the University at Albany past the University of Maine 87-73 on Saturday night in men's college basketball action at Alfond Arena in front of 1,577 fans. The Black Bears fall to 9-14 on the season and 4-8 in America East play, while Albany improves to 16-8 overall and 11-2 in conference play.
Albany jumped out to a 7-1 lead early in the game, but Maine responded to take a 9-7 lead when Jon Sheets (Grass Valley, Calif.) drained a three-point field goal. The Great Danes then went on an 11-0 run to pull ahead 18-9. Albany pushed its lead to 11 points twice in the first half, once when Brian Lillis drained a three-point field goals and again when Jamar Wilson scored a pair of points on a dunk. A Freddy Petkus (Plunge, Lithuania) dunk back-to-back with a Philippe Tchekane Bofia (Yaounde, Cameroon) layup pulled Maine to within six points, 37-31 with 2:32 left in the first half. Albany's Jason Siggers hit a pair of free throws with 52 seconds remaining in the half and the Great Danes took a 41-33 lead into halftime. Maine used an 8-2 run to open the second half to pull within two points at 43-41. Sheets scored all eight points during the run, including a pair of three-point field goals. Chris Bruff's dunk at 13:39 pulled Maine to within one points at 46-45. Petkus followed with his fourth three-point field goal of the game to give the Black Bears a 48-46 lead. The Black Bears extended their lead to 50-47 when Bruff hit a jumper with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game. Jamar Wilson scored eight straight points for Albany and gave the Great Danes a 55-52 lead. The two teams continued to trade leads over the next few minutes. Bruff gave Maine a 60-59 lead with a layup with 7:59 remaining in the game. The Great Danes then went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to build a 69-60 lead. Jamar Wilson's three-point field goal with 4:19 remaining pushed Albany's lead to 74-62. Maine was able to cut the deficit to seven points on four different occasions after that, but that is as close as it would get. Albany ended the game on a 9-2 run to earn the 87-73 win. Maine was led by Ernest Turner (Camden, N.J.) who had 16 points and five rebounds. Freddy Petkus chipped in with 15 points which tied his career-high. He was 4-for-8 from three-point range and also dished out four assists. Jon Sheets added 15 points, while Chris Bruff chipped in with 13. Maine was plagued by foul trouble in the second half as forwards Tchekane Bofia and Olli Ahvenniemi (Vaasa, Finland) each fouled out. Tchekane Bofia played just four minutes in the second half, while Ahvenniemi was on the court for nine minutes in the second half. Maine was outstanding from the free throw line as it converted 18-of-19 shots. Jamar Wilson led Albany with 30 points, six assists and five rebounds. Kirsten Zoellner added 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. The Black Bears return to action on Wednesday, February 15 when they travel to Vermont to face the Catamounts at 7:00 p.m. Maine returns home on Sunday, February 19 when its hosts New Hampshire at 1:00 p.m. -U-M-
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