Maine’s Hot Shooting Pushes Black Bears Past Brown
Brown University Press Release
Bangor, Maine – Maine used long-range shooting, connecting on 13-of-24treys, to come away with a 98-92 win over Brown at the Cross Insurance Center Saturday afternoon. The Bears fall to 4-9 with the loss, while Maine improves to 4-9.
Pacing the Bears was junior guard Tavon Blackmon (Upper Marlboro, MD), who scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. With six assists, Blackmon moved into Brown’s Top 10 in career assists with 279 assists, good for 10th place.
Brown received a yeoman’s effort of the bench from freshman Obi Okolie (Ajax, Ontario), who scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, while connecting on 7-of-12 field goals overall. His 17 points and six rebounds are career highs.
Junior Steven Spieth (Dallas, TX) had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Bears, while sophomore Jason Massey (Cooper City, FL) also had 17 points.
Bears’ senior forward Cedric Kuakumensah (Worcester, MA) posted a double-double for the third time in the last four games with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while the Ivy League’s all-time leading shot blocker added four blocks.
Kevin Little paced the Black Bears with 24 points, doing most of his damage from beyond the three-point arc, hitting 6-of-12 treys. Aaron Calixte had 22 points, hitting 3-of-3 treys, while handing out six assists. Troy Rein-Knight had 17 points and nine rebounds, while Till Gloger chipped in with 14 points.
The Black Bears out-rebounded the Bears by a 40-38 margin. Reid-Knight paced Maine with nine rebounds.
Maine, coached by former Rhode Island College head coach Bob Walsh, jumped out to a 27-15 lead with a three-point barrage, connecting on five of its first eight treys.
The Bears clawed back to cut the Black Bears lead to three points, 39-36, on a trey by Blackmon with 4:19 left in the half.
A trey by Little with 59-seconds left in the half gave the Black Bears a 48-43 lead at intermission. Maine connected on 8-of-15 treys for the half.
While the Black Bears maintained their lead in the first 10 minutes of the second half, Brown came back and cut the deficit to one point, 62-61, on a trey by Okolie with 11:40 remaining.
Spieth gave the Bears their first lead of the half, 65-64, on a layup at the 10 minute mark.
Maine came back and built a six-point advantage, 86-80, when Calixte knocked down a trey with 3:14 left in the game. Back-to-back treys by Little and Troy Reid-Knight built the Black Bears lead to nine points, 92-83, with 1:50 remaining.
The Bears return home next Saturday, January 9 for their final non-league game of the season, hosting Daniel Webster. Tip-off is 2:00 pm at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
