Sam Ihekwoaba was named America East men’s basketball rookie of the week for the second time this season on Monday, but University of Maine fans won’t get to see the first-year guard from Orlando, Florida, play at home again for two weeks.
That’s because the Black Bears’ next home game, originally scheduled for Thursday night against Hartford, has been postponed due to COVID-19 cases within the Hartford program.
That was one of two Hartford games to be postponed due to the pandemic, along with the Hawks’ scheduled America East opener last Sunday against Stony Brook.
Five America East regular-season conference men’s basketball games have already been postponed this season.
Also sidetracked were matchups last Sunday pitting Maryland Baltimore County at New Hampshire and Albany at Vermont, as well as the UMBC at Stony Brook game originally set for this Thursday.
While no new dates have been announced every effort will be made to reschedule the postponed games, according to AE policy. Rescheduled dates will be announced at a later time.
UMaine (3-9 overall, 0-1 in America East) now is scheduled to resume action in search of its first Division I victory of the season Saturday at Stony Brook (8-5, 0-0 AE). The Seawolves are one of three America East teams — along with Vermont and UMass Lowell — to score eight victories during non-conference play.
The Black Bears remain on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 12, to visit New Hampshire (5-4, 0-0 AE) before playing their next home game at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, against Binghamton at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The Bearcats are 4-6 overall and 1-0 within the conference after their 68-63 win over UMass Lowell during Sunday’s opening date for America East play.
UMaine played its most recent home game on Dec. 21 in a 49-47 non-conference loss to Merrimack.
Ihekwoaba earned the America East rookie of the week honor for the second time after scoring a career-high 18 points during UMaine’s 69-66 loss at New Jersey Institute of Technology in their mutual conference opener on Sunday afternoon at Newark, New Jersey.
The 6-foot-5-inch product of Scotland Campus Prep in Scotland, Pennsylvania, made 8 of 14 field-goal attempts with one 3-pointer during a season-high 34 minutes of action while also contributing six rebounds.