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Men's Basketball Drops Hard Fought Battle
Nov. 24, 2007
ORONO, Maine-- The University of Maine men's basketball team dropped a tough decision to the Northeastern Huskies Saturday afternoon by a score of 70-57. With the defeat, Maine drops to 3-3 on the year, and Northeastern improves to 2-2. The Black Bears were led by Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine), who had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Brian Andre (Bingham, Maine), who contributed 17 points and six rebounds. Maine got out to a fast start, going up by eight points only five minutes into the game on a Junior Bernal (Manhattan, New York) foul shot. The Huskies proceeded to go on a 16-to-2 run to take a 18-to-12 lead midway through the first half. The Black Bears battled back to tie the game at 20 when Bernal dunked it hard with defenders around him. Maine fell down by three again late in the half, but once again battled back. With the clock ticking down, the Black Bears worked the ball around until Bernal took a shot with four seconds left to tie the game at 29 going into halftime. Socoby led the way in the first half with 10 points and four rebounds. Andre and Bernal each added eight points for the half. In the second half, the Black Bears battled hard, but could not get the shots to fall and Northeastern took advantage by shooting 62 percent in the second half on 13-of-21 shooting. Even with the misses, Maine cut the deficit by six points in less than a minute to bring the score to 61-to-52 with a little over two minutes remaining. The Huskies responded by making foul shots and eventually putting the game out of reach of the Black Bears. Despite not shooting the ball well, Maine was tough once again on the glass, out-rebounding Northeastern 36-to-34. For the game, the Huskies shot 46 percent from field, while Maine shot 38 percent. Northeastern also had an advantage in bench scoring, with Eugene Spates (Dallas, TX) contributing 15 points and the Huskies' bench out-scoring the Black Bears' bench by a margin of 29-to-9.
Matt Janning (Watertown, Minnesota) led Northeastern with 17 points and seven rebounds. Joining Socoby and Andre with a solid performance was Bernal who had 14 points, six rebounds and handled the ball well from the point guard position. Maine returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Providence for a 7:30 pm game. The Black Bears return home on Saturday, December 1, for a 12pm contest against New Jersey Tech. Tickets are still available, and can be purchased by calling 581-BEAR, or (800) 756-TEAM. |
