The University of Maine men’s basketball team got a much-needed America East win over Maryland-Baltimore County at home on Thursday, outlasting the Retrievers 62-56 after nine second half lead changes.
Tied 50-50, 52-52 and again 54-54 in the final few minutes of play, the Black Bears finally pulled away from UMBC with six straight points from Hungarian senior forward Peter Filipovity — two foul shots off a steal, a 3-pointer assisted by Jaden Clayton and later another foul shot with 16 seconds remaining to ice it.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Black Bears (4-8 in-Conference, 12-15 overall), and catapulted them to sixth place in America East out of nine. UMBC (4-9 in-Conference, 9-19 overall), meanwhile, dropped to eighth in the standings.
“It feels good — we closed it out. I’m confident in my shot; I’m not scared to take one. Especially with a playmaker like [Jaden] on the team,” Filipovity said. “These past few games we couldn’t close it out. Now, we can take a breath.”
The Black Bears had previously failed to make the go-ahead or game-tying shot in four separate America East games, and lost five by five points or fewer. Down 20-16 headed into halftime, UMaine was playing like the same old Black Bears, but responded by shooting 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from the field in the second half, including six 3-pointers in just 12 attempts.
UMaine is last in America East in scoring (67.4 points per game), and second-to-last in 3-point shooting (30.1 percent). UMBC is third in scoring (78.3 ppg) and first in 3-point shooting (36.3 percent).
Eastern European duo Kristians Feiergergs (11 points, 3-for-5 shooting) and Filipovity (13 points, 4-for-11 shooting) each converted on two 3-pointers in the second half, while junior forward AJ Lopez (nine points) and Jaden Clayton (seven points) each knocked down one apiece for the Black Bears.
“The first half was ugly. That was the game we kinda wanted, because UMBC [scores] in the eighties, but the ball wasn’t falling [for us],” Clayton said. “In the second half, we started to pick up the scoring, and they did as well. If you look at all our losses, most of them are under 8 points. We just had to find a way to win ugly.”
Clayton had a team-high plus-minus of 11 on Thursday night, and a team-high four assists. Junior guard Kellen Tynes led all Black Bears with 14 points, adding three assists and four steals.
UMBC sophomore guard Dion Brown led all scorers with 17 points, 14 rebounds and four assists on 7-for-14 shooting, and teammate Marcus Banks, Jr. tacked on 16 points and two assists for the Retrievers.
Next up, the Black Bears will host last place New Jersey Tech (3-10) on Saturday at 2 p.m. A victory would clinch the season sweep over the Highlanders, and a playoff berth for UMaine.
“All that matters now is a really talented NJIT team,” second-year head coach Chris Markwood said. “We’re taking it one game at a time. It’s the end of February — it’s winning time.”
