The University of Maine men’s basketball team has started its season with three losses as the Black Bears fell 72-60 to Rutgers University in New Jersey on Monday night.
The new-look Black Bears, still finding themselves with 11 newcomers, started both halves of the game by ceding big runs to the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers used a 15-2 run to start the contest and create a comfortable cushion over the visiting UMaine squad. And even though the Black Bears battled back and cut it to a seven-point game at halftime, they struggled out of the gate again to start the second half.
Rutgers went on another 9-0 run to start the second, and the game felt out of reach for UMaine the rest of the way. A couple late three-pointers by Maine forward TJ Biel made the final score of 72-60 seem closer than it really was down the stretch.
Denis Badalau from Rutgers led all scorers with 19. UMaine junior guard Isaac Bonilla led the Black Bears in scoring with 12 points. Freshman guard Bashir N’Galang had 11 points, Biel’s late shooting bumped him to 10 points and freshman Ace Flagg added six on 3-5 shooting for the night.
UMaine outshot Rutgers percentage-wise 47.7 percent to 46 percent, but lost the turnover battle with 18 to Rutgers’ 14. The biggest statistical difference on the night came at the free-throw line, where Rutgers went 19-29 and Maine was only 7-13.
The Black Bears have now dropped three games, all on the road against non-conference teams, to start the season. UMaine is a member of the America East Conference. Rutgers plays in the Big 10.
UMaine will look for its first win when it returns home on Sunday to face Quinnipiac University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Quinnipiac is 1-1 to start the season heading into a Tuesday game against Yale.
As of Monday night, tickets for the home opener in Orono are sold out on the UMaine website — a reflection of the enthusiasm surrounding the Black Bears team after a runner-up finish in last year’s America East tournament and the arrival of exciting new additions like Flagg.