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Men's Basketball Travels to Boston for America East Tournament
Feb. 28, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
The University of Maine men's basketball team got back to its winning ways with a 63-61 victory over Stony Brook on Sunday afternoon. The Black Bears are the fourth seed in the upcoming America East Tournament. Maine will face UMBC on Saturday, March 3 at 2:30 p.m. at Agganis Arena. The Black Bears enter the tournament with a record of 12-17 overall, 7-9 in America East play. UMBC is 11-18 on the season and finished 7-9 in conference play. THE AMERICA EAST TOURNAMENT: Maine enters the 2007 America East Tournament as the fourth seed. The Black Bears have been the fourth seed in the tournament six times. Maine has a record of 4-6 in the tournament as the fourth seed. The Black Bears last entered the tournament as the fourth seed in 2004. Maine advanced all the way to the America East Championship game that year. SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS: Maine is led by Kevin Reed who is averaging 14.1 points per game. He is pulling down a team-high 6.0 rebounds a game. Reed has 74 three-point field goals on the season and is grabbing 1.6 steals per game. Chris Bruff is scoring 10.7 points per game and grabbing 5.8 rebounds a contest. Jon Sheets is chipping in with 10.7 points per game as well. He is averaging a team-high 3.2 assists per game and 1.5 steals per game. Sheets leads the team with 75 three-point field goals on the season. Junior Bernal is scoring 9.7 points per game. He is dishing out 2.8 assists per game and grabbing a team-high1.7 steals per game. Philippe Tchekane Bofia is averaging 7.3 points per game and 3.6 rebounds a game. Rookie Mark Socoby is adding 7.1 points per game. He is third on the team with 21 three-point field goals. ?Maine is shooting 42.2 percent from the floor, while its opponents are connecting 42.5 percent of the time. The Black Bears are grabbing 34.0 rebounds per game, while their opponents are pulling down 36.2 per contest. REED BREAKS GAMES PLAYED MARK: Kevin Reed broke the Maine record for career games played on Sunday against Stony Brook when he played in his 118th career game. He breaks the mark of 117 set by Deonte Hursey from 1990-94. REED DRAINS 300TH TREY: Kevin Reed hit his 300th career three-point field goal on Wednesday, Feb. 14 against Vermont. He currently has 309 in his career. REED AMONG ALL-TIME SCORING LEADERS: Kevin Reed ranks third on Maine's all-time scoring list. He has 1,589 career points in 118 career games. He became the seventh player in Maine history to score 1,500 points when he drained a three-point field goal on Wed., Feb. 7 against Albany. He is 11 points shy of 1,600 for his career. DOING THE DISHES: Jon Sheets dished out a career-high seven assists on Thursday, Feb. 22 at UMBC. He followed that up with six on Sunday against Stony Brook. Sheets leads Maine with 93 assists on the season. He is looking to become the first Black Bears to record 100 assists in a season since Eric Dobson in 2003-04. WINNING ON THE ROAD: Maine is 7-9 on the road this season, including 4-4 in America East road games. That is a dramatic improvement over a year ago when Maine finished the season 3-11 on the road. GOING THE DISTANCE: Maine's Chris Bruff and Kevin Reed each played 40 minutes on Sunday against Stony Brook. It is the first time that a player has played all 40 minutes in a game since Chris Markwood played 40 minutes against Hartford on February 19, 2005. It is the first time that two players have played every minute of a game since Errick Greene and Derrick Jackson both went the distance against Northeastern on February 21, 2002. LEADING THE LEAGUE: Chris Bruff leads America East in field goal percentage at 53.9 percent. In addition, Bruff is shooting 55.0 percent in conference games this season. Bruff has connected on 125-of-232 shots that he has taken on the season. THEFT ON THE COURT: Junior Bernal recorded a career-high six steals on Thursday at UMBC. Bernal's previous high was five steals in a game against the College of St. Joseph earlier this season. STRONG ON THE BOARDS: Chris Bruff was strong on the boards on Saturday, Feb. 3 when he pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds. He had seven rebounds in each half. His previous career high for rebounds was 12 against Binghamton earlier this season. Maine outrebounded UNH 41-26 in the game. ONE-TWO PUNCH: Jon Sheets and Kevin Reed rank first and second in America East in three-point field goals made. Sheets has 75 three-point field goals on the season, while Reed has 74. Sheets is 86th in the nation, while Reed is 93rd. The duo has combined to score 78.4 percent of Maine's three-point field goals this season. HOLDING ONTO THE BALL: Maine tied its season-low with just seven turnovers on Wednesday, Feb. 14 against Vermont. Ironically, the other game in which Maine recorded just seven turnovers was in its first meeting against the Catamounts. REED AMONG STEAL LEADERS: Kevin Reed ranks third all-time in career steals with 221 in 118 games. He is five shy of tying Casey Arena (1992-96) for second place on the all-time steals list. RUFUS HARRIS' NUMBER 20 RETIRED: Maine retired Rufus Harris' number 20 on Wednesday, February 14 prior to its game against Vermont. Harris is Maine's all-time leading scorer with 2,206 career points. He was the ECAC North Co-Player of the Year in 1980. Harris was a three-time NABC District I selection and currently holds 10 UMaine records. He was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. EARNING THE START: Mark Socoby earned his first collegiate start on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Northeastern. He played a career-high 33 minutes in the game and scored 11 points. Socoby was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line in the game. UNDER 40 PERCENT: Maine is 9-1 this season when holding opponents to a field goal percentage of less than 40 percent. The only time that Maine lost when holding an opponent under 40 percent from the floor was against Robert Morris. The Colonials shot 39.6 percent and earned a 55-43 victory. FOR STARTERS: Kevin Reed, Jon Sheets and Junior Bernal have started all 29 games for the Black Bears this season. Chris Bruff has recorded 25 starts on the season. Olli Ahvenniemi, Philippe Tchekane Bofia, Brian Andre and Mark Socoby have also earned starts for the Black Bears this season.
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