BOSTON — Coach Bob Walsh’s University of Maine Black Bears showed no quit on Sunday, clawing back from sizable deficits in both halves against Northeastern. But mental lapses and missed box-outs in the basketball game’s biggest moments spelled doom for the Bears, which fell 80-72 in their second game of the Steve Wright Classic.
“I thought we were tough enough, but we didn’t have the composure to make the plays,” Walsh said. “Ultimately we’ve got to match our toughness with composure and be able to handle the ball and make plays down the stretch.”
Trailing 53-40 with 14:25 remaining in the game, the Black Bears appeared dead in the water after Northeastern point guard TJ Williams drained a contested 3-pointer. But shooting guard Wes Myers refused to let his team go silently.
“You can tell by the way that he plays that he really wants to win and I think that rubs off on people,” said Walsh of the first-year transfer from Niagara.
Myers wreaked havoc on the Huskies’ backcourt and relentlessly attacked the rim over the next four minutes, swiping two steals and scoring nine points to key a 13-0 Maine run to tie the game at 53 with 8:24 left.
“Wes has been really tough for us, he’s been a great competitor,” said Walsh of the 6-foot-2 junior who scored a season-high 19 points to go with four assists and three steals.
After a pair of Myers free throws tied the game, the Black Bears defense held strong, forcing an errant three from Northeastern guard Brace Bolden. But Bolden caught the Black Bears sleeping on the glass and corralled his own miss before finding point guard TJ Williams.
Williams, who would finish with game-highs of 26 points and 10 assists, scored on a tough layup at the rim while drawing a foul. Williams knocked down the ensuing free throw to complete the old-fashioned three-point play.
Northeastern pushed its lead to six, 59-53, with 7:24 remaining, but the Black Bears once again responded. A jumper and a free-throw from freshman forward Vincent Eze and a 3-pointer from freshman wing Danny Evans tied the score at 59 with 5:52 remaining.
“Danny is a really versatile, tough, solid kid who is a great defender and can knock down open shots and he did that tonight,” said Walsh of the 6-4 native of Leeds, England, Evans finished with career-highs of 11 points and 19 minutes while shooting 4-of-5 from the floor.
But Maine once again missed a box-out after a defensive stop at the other end, as Northeastern forward Jeremy Miller cleaned up an errant 3-pointer and scored on the put-back to give Northeastern the lead, and the Huskies slowly pulled away over the game’s final five minutes.
“I thought there were a couple of times where we got back into the game, tied the game, and got them to miss and we didn’t get the ball back because we didn’t get a block out,” said Walsh when asked of the game’s turning point.
Maine started the day in a quick 6-0 deficit, but freshman Andrew Fleming answered with authority, blowing past his man along the baseline, exploding to the rim and hammering home a monster two-handed slam over a crowd of defenders.
“He’s got a chance to be pretty good,” said Walsh of Fleming, who finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
The Black Bears trailed 16-9 with 13:14 left to play in the first half, but exploded for a 12-0 run powered by first year junior college transfer Jaquan McKennon to grab the momentum. A 5-9 fire hydrant of a guard, McKennon pushed the tempo in transition, scoring six points during the barrage.
“I thought he really changed the tempo of the game when he went in there and we were able to take control in the first half,” said Walsh of McKennon, who finished with career-highs of seven points and five assists in 25 minutes of action.
A lay-up by Eze with 7:36 left gave Maine it’s largest lead of the day, 27-18, but the Huskies came firing back with a 10-run of their own to reclaim the lead three minutes later. The teams would trade baskets the rest of the half, and Northeastern headed into the intermission up 37-36.
Eze, a bruising 6-8, 230-pound redshirt freshman played perhaps the best game of his young career, scoring a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while ripping down nine rebounds.
“I thought [Eze] really battled and he rebounded better than he has tonight. We need him to be a force,” said Walsh.
The Black Bears have now lost two straight games in two days, and will look to salvage a win on the tournament’s final day when they take on LIU Brooklyn at 3 p.m. Monday.