BOX SCORE
ORONO, Maine – The University of Hartford men's basketball team made it three-in-a-row on Thursday evening when it put down the Maine Black Bears, 63-49, at Memorial Gym. Rookie Wes Cole netted a game-best 13 points off of the bench while classmate Mark Nwakamma and veteran Genesis Maciel contributed 12 apiece to help the Hawks improve to 4-2 in the America East.
The Hawks have claimed four-straight victories over Maine (8-9, 2-4 AE).
Hartford (4-14 overall) put together its most convincing effort of the season, shooting 51.2-percent from the floor while clamping down on the defensive end. The Hawks held Maine, a squad that entered the evening averaging 74.9 points-per-game, tops in the league, to just 49 points.
Furthermore, three of the America East's top scorers were silenced by Hartford's defense as Gerald McLemore, Justin Edwards, and Alasdair Fraser were all held significantly below their season scoring averages. Fraser led Maine with 12 points while Edwards added nine.
Maine pushed ahead early at 7-4 but Hartford responded and took the lead with two from downtown, the first from Andres Torres which knotted the game and the second coming off the fingertips of Genesis Maciel just 14 seconds later. The Black Bears regained their advantage however when Mike Allison converted on one of two from the line, Justin Edwards scored under the hoop and Kilian Cato kissed one off of the glass to put the home team ahead, 12-10.
That lead was short-lived for Maine as Cole's hot hand put the Hawks ahead for good. After Nwakamma put his team's 11th and 12th points on the board, Cole broke open a 12-12 deadlock with a long three and following a Frasier lay-up on the other end, he drained his second trey of the evening to put his team up by four. Nwakamma would add to the Hawks' lead with a lay-up and Maciel capped his team's 8-0 run by drilling another one from long range to put Hartford up nine with under five minutes left in the first.
Working with a 27-20 advantage at the half, the Hawks came out of the locker rooms firing in the second stanza. Maine scored first, cutting Hartford's lead to just five points, however the Hawks responded with a jumper by Nwakamma and a long three by Maciel to regain a double digit lead at 32-22.
Following another easy bucket for Maine, Hartford put its foot on the gas and never let up as it outscored the Black Bears 10-4 to push ahead by 18 with a score of 42-26. During that stretch, Maciel and Cole each tickled the nylon from downtown to help the Hawks open up the game.
Another Hawks' scoring surge would extend the margin to 22, the largest advantage of the game, at 52-30 with 8:03 remaining on the game clock. The Black Bears, which extended their pressure to the full court, started to heat up down the stretch but would only cut the gap to 16 points.
For the second-straight game, Hartford pulled down more rebounds than its counterparts with a 32-27 advantage on the boards. The Hawks put forth their season-best effort from the floor, shooting 51.2-percent, while holding the Black Bears to a clip of 38.5-percent.
Torres finished the contest with six assists and led the Hawks on the boards with six.
The Hawks return home to take on the first place and preseason league favorite Boston University Terriers on Sunday, January 22. Tip-off from the Chase Family Arena is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Sunday's game will be televised live on CPTV Sports with John Holt and Randy LaVigne taking the call from West Hartford.
