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Men's Basketball Rolls Past UMF 75-34
Dec. 14, 2006
ORONO, Maine-- The University of Maine men's basketball team used a 27-0 run midway through the first half to break the game wide open as it defeated UMaine Farmington 75-34 on Thursday night at "The Pit" in Memorial Gym in Orono in front of 1,453 fans. The Black Bears improve to 5-5 on the season with the victory, while UMaine Farmington evens its record at 4-4. Jon Sheets (Grass Valley, Calif.) was named the America East Player of the Game. Sheets scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out five assists and recorded five steals. Maine jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Beavers answered right back, eventually grabbing an 11-5 lead. Isaac Hutchinson had a pair of three-point field goals to help UMF build its lead. Maine then used a 27-0 run to take a 32-11 lead. Junior Bernal (Manhattan, N.Y.) led the way for the Black Bears with nine points during the run, including seven straight at one point. Seven different players had baskets for Maine during the run, including a pair of impressive dunks by Chris Bruff (Bloomfield, Conn.). Maine built its lead to as many as 30 points when Bruff added another dunk with 3:30 remaining in the half. The second half was much of the same for the Black Bears, who built the cushion to a game-high 44 points after a conventional three-point play by rookie Jordan Cook (Hampden, Maine) with 2:23 remaining in the half. The Black Bears used a balanced scoring attack as 10 different players recorded points. Bernal finished with 14 points, while Reed added 13. Reed moved into ninth place on Maine's all-time scoring list as he scored his 1,300th career point in the victory. He passes Matt Rossignol (1985-89) who finished his career with 1,294. Bruff added 10 points and five rebounds. Sheets had nine points, six rebounds, five steals and five assists for the Black Bears. Olli Ahvenniemi (Vaasa, Finland) finished with a season-high seven points in the game. He also pulled down six rebounds and blocked three shots.
Maine recorded 17 steals in the game, four shy of the school record of 21. Isaac Hutchinson led UMF with 13 points and six rebounds, while Josh Tanguay added seven points and a game-high 11 boards. The Black Bears return to action on Saturday, December 23 when they travel to Penn State for a noon tilt with the Nittany Lions. -U-M- |
