Men’s Basketball
MAINE vs. BROWN
Time, site: Thursday, 3:30 p.m., Pizzitola Sports Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Records: UMaine 4-8, Brown 7-5
Series, last meeting: Brown leads 8-7; UMaine 98-92 on 1/2/16
Key players: UMaine — 6-2 G Wes Myers (14.6 points, 3.8 rebounds per game), 6-7 F Andrew Fleming (9.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg), 6-7 F Marko Pirovic (6.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg), 6-0 G Ryan Bernstein (3.8 ppg, 2.4 assists per game); Brown — 6-6 F Steven Spieth (15.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.1 apg), 6-6 F Joshua Howard (10.8 ppg, 3.8 apg), 6-0 G Tavan Blackman (9.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg), 6-5 F Obi Okolie (8.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
Outlook: UMaine seeks to end a two-game losing streak before its Christmas break after Tuesday night’s 79-59 loss at Providence. Fleming, a 2016 Bangor Daily News All-Maine first-team pick from Oxford Hills of South Paris, is coming off his first collegiate double-double after totaling 12 points and 11 rebounds against the physical Friars. Myers has averaged 21.7 ppg over UMaine’s last three games while coming off the bench. The status of junior guard Ilker Er is uncertain entering Thursday’s game. UMaine’s second-leading scorer at 10.1 ppg missed the Providence game due to a reported knee injury. Brown is 6-0 at home to start a season for the first time since 1935. Coach Mike Martin’s Bears are led by Spieth, the younger brother of 2015 Masters and U.S. Open golf champion Jordan Spieth. Steven Spieth, a senior, has started 98 of his team’s 99 games since arriving on the Brown campus. Brown has been idle since Dec. 10 when it completed a back-to-back sweep of Division III Emerson and Johnson & Wales. Brown is 0-1 against America East so far this season, dropping an 80-76 decision to Albany in a game played at the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Nov. 20. Brown also lost at Providence 95-57 on Dec. 6. UMaine plays its final game of 2016 on Dec. 30 at the University of Buffalo. That matchup is the Black Bears’ fourth and final guarantee game of the season, with UMaine earning $85,000 for making the trip to upstate New York to face the Bulls of the Mid-American Conference.