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Men's Basketball Travels to Vermont
Feb. 13, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
The University of Maine men's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, February 15 when it travels to Vermont. The Black Bears, 9-14 on the season and 4-8 in America East play, look to snap their three-game losing streak. Vermont enters the game with a record of 10-12 and 6-6 in conference play. The Catamounts are coming off a loss to UMBC last Saturday. A LOOK BACK: Maine fell to America East leading Albany on Saturday. 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. 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 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 (Bloomfield, Conn.) dunk at 13:39 pulled Maine to within one point 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 two teams continued to trade leads over the next few minutes. Albany then went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to build a 69-60 lead. Maine was able to cut the deficit to seven points on four different occasions, but that is as close as it would get.Maine was led by Ernest Turner (Camden, N.J.) who had 16 points and five rebounds. Petkus chipped in with 15 points which tied his career-high. Sheets added 15 points, while Bruff chipped in with 13. SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Ernest Turner who is averaging 15.3 points per game and 4.1 rebounds a contest. He is recording 1.5 steals per game. Tchekane Bofia is adding 9.8 points per game and 5.7 rebounds a game. Sheets is chipping in with 9.8 points per game as well. He has hit a team-high 56 three-point field goals this season and is dishing out 2.9 assists per game. Rashard Turner (Peekskill, N.Y.) is adding 9.7 points per game and has a team-high 3.1 assists per game. Bruff is chipping in with 6.7 points per game and 4.1 rebounds a contest. Olli Ahvenniemi (Vaasa, Finland) is adding 6.0 points per game. He leads the Black Bears in rebounds, with 6.2 per game, and in blocks, averaging 2.7 per game. ?Maine is scoring 64.7 points per game, while its opponents are scoring 67.8 points per game. The Black Bears are shooting 41.5 percent from the floor, while their opponents are connecting 42.5 percent from the floor. SHEETS NEARING THREE-POINT LEADERS: Jon Sheets is among the single season three-point field goal leaders at Maine. He currently has 56 three-point field goals which ranks tied for 10th on the single season leaders list. FOUR FOR 10 OR MORE: Maine had four different players score 10 or more points last Saturday against Albany. Ernest Turner had 16, Sheets and Petkus each added 15 and Bruff finished with 13. It is the fifth time this season that Maine had four players score 10 or more points in a game. PETKUS TIES CAREER HIGH: Senior Freddy Petkus tied his career-high with 15 points last Saturday against Albany. Petkus was 4-of-8 from behind the three-point arc. He tied his career-high with four assists in the game. He also scored 15 points in games against UMass and Brown as a junior. AHVENNIEMI MOVING UP BLOCKS: Olli Ahvenniemi leads Maine and America East in blocked shots. He ranks 19th in the nation in blocks per game. Ahvenniemi has 62 blocks on the season, averaging 2.7 per game. Ahvenniemi blocked a career-high seven shots in Maine's game against Robert Morris on Monday, November 28. He had five blocks against UNH on Thursday, January 19, and six on Sunday January 29 at Boston University. He ranks sixth on Maine's all-time blocks list with 93 blocks in 62 career games. Justin Rowe holds the Maine record for blocks in a career with 226. CAPITALIZING ON FREE THROW: Maine hit 18-of-19 shots from the free throw line on Saturday, February 11 against Albany. The Black Bears have turned in some excellent performances from the free throw line this season. It is the fifth time this season that Maine has shot 85 percent or better from the free throw line in a game. The Black Bears were a perfect 19-of-19 from the free throw line in the second game of the season against High Point. Maine has shot 87.8 percent from the free throw line in its last three games.
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