The University of Maine men’s basketball team lost a wire-to-wire dogfight against last place University of Maryland-Baltimore County on the road Thursday night, falling 70-65 after 12 second-half lead changes.
A matchup between America East’s worst defense in UMBC (82.6 ppg) and worst offense in UMaine (68.3 ppg), the Black Bears were outshot 52.9 to 32.4 percent from the field, but kept it close by winning the turnover battle 15 to 9, and the offensive boards 15 to 6 — statistical discrepancies that were on full display in the final minutes of play.
Down 63-62 with 1:45 remaining in the ball game, the Black Bears reeled in three consecutive offensive rebounds but missed the mark four times, setting up a 3-point play for UMBC senior Max Lorca-Lloyd (seven points, seven rebounds, four blocks, six turnovers) on the other end.
Flash forward to the 19-second mark with UMaine trailing 68-65, junior guard Kellen Tynes (13 points, eight boards, six steals) had a lay-up rim out but miraculously recovered his own rebound, swinging the ball out to the perimeter where junior Quion Burns missed a 3-pointer to tie it.
On the ensuing possession, UMBC sophomore guard Dion Brown (21 points, 9-12 shooting) threw the Black Bears a lifeline by missing his first foul shot on a 1-and-1, but UMaine senior Peter Filipovity traveled while inbounding a full-court pass with 1.2 seconds remaining, effectively sealing it for the Retrievers.
The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for the injury-plagued Retrievers (6-13 overall, 1-3 in-Conference), while simultaneously extending UMaine’s (8-10 overall, 0-3 in-Conference) losing streak to six games. During this disappointing skid, the Black Bears have held second-half leads on four separate occasions, including an 11-point lead over UNH with 5:25 remaining one week ago.
In addition to their positive turnover differential and solid offensive rebounding, UMaine’s bench play was great against UMBC, with double-digit scoring performances from junior Kristians Feierbergs (13 points), junior AJ Lopez (10 points) and junior Quion Burns (10 points).
Next up, UMaine will try to snap its losing streak on Saturday at 2 p.m. against New Jersey Tech (4-12 overall, 0-4 in-Conference) away.
