University of Maine freshman Ace Flagg had his best game yet for the Black Bears, helping the men’s basketball team overcome another key injury to gut out a 52-49 win over Albany on Thursday night.
Flagg scored a season-best 12 points and hauled down a team-leading eight rebounds on Thursday night. And the Black Bears needed every bit of that effort after losing fellow forward Keelan Steele to an injury early in the game.
Steele joined a long list of UMaine players to be slowed by an injury this year, including fellow big man Killian Gribben and guard Darius Lopes who are both out for the year with lower body injuries. And UMaine Coach Chris Markwood credited Flagg and the rest of the UMaine team for stepping up after yet another key contributor went down.
“I thought he was awesome last night,” Markwood said about Flagg. “We lost Keelan Steele pretty early in the game to an injury on the fast break. He rolled his ankle, so that was a big loss.”
It was crucial for the Black Bears, now 4-17 on the season, to get that win despite Steele’s absence, the coach said.
“A big part of that was Ace kind of filling those shoes and playing, you know, Ace Flagg basketball.”
A hallmark of Flagg’s game has always been his toughness, and it has helped his teams win at every stop in his basketball journey leading up to UMaine. He and his twin brother, NBA rookie Cooper Flagg, won a Maine state championship at Nokomis Regional High School in Newport alongside their older brother, Hunter Flagg. Cooper and Ace Flagg went on to have national success at Montverde Academy in Florida, and Ace added a championship in a third state his senior year at Greensboro Day School in North Carolina.
“I just thought he had a huge impact defensively,” Markwood added about the freshman forward. “He was as good as he’s been, in terms of getting the ball screen coverage, rebounding the basketball, getting on the floor for loose balls like he always does, executing as good as he has in our zone. He was just really laser-focused and locked in last night on the defensive side.”
Markwood said that defensive focus translated to offensive efficiency as well.
“I just thought his toughness just really shined through on both sides of the floor, and we need that from him,” Markwood added.
The Black Bears also needed the 13 points they got from guards Logan Carey and Mehki Gray, as their top scorer TJ Biel had a relatively cold night shooting.
“It was just a hard-fought kind of tough team win,” Markwood said. “It wasn’t pretty.”
With the exception of an eight-minute stretch, Markwood thought his team’s defense was very effective at slowing Albany down. And players like Gray, Carey and guard Caleb Crawford all provided much-needed boosts for the Black Bears.
“On a night where TJ Beal doesn’t have his best, offensively, we had a lot of other guys step up,” Markwood added.
UMaine’s struggle from three-point range continued with a 3-14 night from beyond the arc, but the team was able to produce a more efficient 14-7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
“Anytime we’re plus assists-to-turnovers, that’s kind of Maine basketball,” Markwood said. “We haven’t done that enough this year. It has gotten a lot better since we got into league play, and hopefully we can continue to grow there.”
UMaine continues its in-conference schedule at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Binghamton. The Black Bears are 2-4 in America East conference play after Thursday’s win.
And if they want to keep adding to that win column, Markwood said that UMaine players will need to continue stepping into larger roles to fill the void left by injuries. That includes Flagg, especially given that the extent of Steele’s injury and how much time he could miss was not clear on Friday morning.
“He’s already played a huge role for us all year,” Markwood said about Flagg. “He’s gonna take on an even bigger role, as are some other guys.”
Markwood also pointed to a nagging shoulder injury that has limited forward Yanis Bamba this season. Bamba tried to make a return Thursday night but still wasn’t able to play much, according to the coach.
“It’s just kind of what we’ve had to deal with all year,” Markwood said. “We’re just gonna keep moving forward, try to take care of the guys that are banged up, and play the guys that are healthy, and see what we can do with it.”