The University at Albany limited the University of Maine to 23 second-half points Saturday night, pulling away for a convincing 80-56 men’s basketball victory in the teams’ mutual America East opener at SEFCU Arena in Albany, New York.
The Great Danes went 9-for-19 from the 3-point line on their way to 52 percent shooting overall, picking apart the Black Bears to take control during the second half.
UMaine, meanwhile, encountered significant offensive struggles in addition to its defensive woes.
Coach Bob Walsh’s Black Bears slipped to 1-12 while suffering their seventh consecutive loss. UAlbany, the two-time defending conference champion, improved to 6-7.
“We just don’t defend at a level right now where we can expect to win,” said Walsh, who pointed out that UAlbany made eight of its first 10 shots, including six of seven 3-pointers, to open the contest.
“In the second half we couldn’t get any stops and it’s hard to sustain any sort of momentum when the other team scores as easily as they do against us,” he added.
Peter Hooley (5 assists) and Sam Rowley, who went 5-for-5 from the floor, finished with 14 points each to pace the Great Danes. Tre Green tallied 12 points and Dallas Ennema added 10.
UAlbany converted 23 of its 31 free throws and outrebounded the Black Bears 29-16.
Freshman guards Kevin Little (3 assists) and Aaron Calixte (4 assists) paced UMaine with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Little knocked down four of seven 3-point attempts and the Bears went 9-for-22 from long range.
Till Gloger added nine points.
UMaine was within 55-44 with 12:32 remaining when the bottom fell out. The Great Danes outscored the Black Bears 19-1 over the next 7½ minutes to put the game out of reach with 4:58 to play.
UMaine’s defensive struggles were exacerbated by their difficulties at the offensive end in the second half and seemed to affect their resolve.
“Unfortunately I don’t think our mentality in the second half was very strong,” Walsh said.
“We’ve got to learn to fight at a higher level, but we’ve got to get much better defensively to have a chance,” he added.
The Black Bears fought back to within 39-33 at halftime, despite having spotted the Great Danes a 13-point advantage.
UAlbany started strong, hitting its first five 3-pointers while building a 25-12 advantage during the first 11 minutes.
Hooley and Singletary each hit two 3-pointers as the Great Danes put together a 9-0 spurt in the early going, then answered a UMaine basket with a 13-7 burst.
However, the Black Bears responded with an 18-6 run of their own that included two 3-pointers by Little and got UMaine back within 31-30 with 3:12 remaining in the half.
“We showed a competitive fight and we battled our way back into the game, despite the fact that we couldn’t get any stops,” Walsh said.
UMaine returns to action Wednesday when it takes on Vermont at the Portland Expo.