Photo Gallery

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Sophomore Mark Nwakamma notched his second 20-plus point performance in three games to help the University of Hartford men's basketball team hang on for a 68-61 conference win over Maine on Wednesday afternoon at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. The Hawks improve to 3-0 in the America East for the first time since 2002-03 and push their overall record to 10-6, the program's best 16-game start in 16 seasons.

Maine falls to 7-9 overall with a record of 2-1 in the conference. With their season-best three-game win-streak, the Hawks improve to 6-2 at home and have beaten Maine in six-straight contests. 

Nwakamma shot 10-of-17 from the field and poured-in a game-high 23 points and assisted on eight other baskets, a career-best for the power forward and the most for a Hartford player since Andres Torres reached that mark at Marist on Dec. 22, 2011. He also hit another milestone in his career as his layup with 7:13 remaining in the game pushed him past the half-way point to 1,000 points. The sophomore, who was named the America East Player of the Game, now has 504 points on his short career.

The 2,811 fans packed into the Chase Family Arena had to wait awhile for the action to get started, as both teams combined to go 0-of-9 in the opening minutes. Hartford became the first squad to get hot, though, as it broke the scoreless tie with a 7-0 run, sparked by five unanswered points from Nwakamma.

The Hawks continued to take charge and pushed their advantage into double digits early. Freshman Evan Cooper drained a three-pointer and sophomore Wes Cole followed suit on the next possession, making the score 15-5 with 11:05 remaining in the first half.

Foul trouble kept Hartford from running away with the game as Maine found itself in the bonus with nine minutes left on the clock in the first half. The Black Bears took advantages of the freebies, scoring eight-straight points from the charity stripe to bring the game back to single digits at 18-15 at the 7:18 mark.

The second three to come out of the right hand of Nwakamma from the top of the key ended Maine's 8-0 run, but the Black Bears continued to find answers. Jon Mesghna, the squad's America East Player fo the Game, delivered six unanswered points for the Black Bears, making two of his five three-pointers on the afternoon on back-to-back possessions to make it a brand new ball game at 21-21 with 6:37 to go.

That would be Maine's last field goal for the half, however, the Black Bears continued to linger and scored their final six points of the half from the free throw line. Hartford, which shot 50.0% from three for the stanza (8-of-16), continued to use the open three-point line to hold on to its advantage. A 13-6 run, which included a three from Yolonzo Moore II with 4:03 left followed by another trey from Cole with 50 seconds to go, pushed Hartford ahead by seven at the intermission (34-27).

In the first half, Hartford shot 50.0% (13-of-16) from the floor and would go on to finish at 52.2%, making 24-of-46 attempts. The Black Bears struggled offensively to start the game, shooting just 30.0% (6-of-20), but improved that mark to 44.4% (12-of-27) in the second stanza to finish at 38.3% on the afternoon.

Maine changed up its game plan out of the break and took away the three-point shot for Hartford, limiting the home team to just five looks from behind the arc in the second half. That didn't stop the Hawks from finding a way to score, however, as they continued to run their offense fluently and found players open on back-door cuts for uncontested buckets under the rim.

The Hawks never relinquished their halftime lead but Maine refused to go away as it came within one point early in the second half after opening up the stanza by scoring nine of the first 12 points. A three-ball by senior John Peterson with 13:16 to go ended the bleeding and pushed Hartford's lead back to four at 40-36.

The Black Bears continued to keep the game close down the stretch and threatened on a few occasions. With 3:57 left to play, Justin Edwards hit a pair of free throws to cut Maine's deficit to two, but Hartford remained calm and executed in the closing minutes of action as it scored 13 of the outing's final 21 points and went 9-of-12 from the free throw line to seal the game.

Moore and Cooper also finished in double digits for the Hawks with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Moore was 4-of-8 from three-point land and made all four of his free throw attempts. Hartford's defense held Edwards, the America East's leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, to 3-of-11 shooting on the afternoon. The sophomore guard finished with 17 points after going 11-of-14 from the charity stripe, joining Mesghna who also finished with 17.

The Black Bears led in rebounding by a 35-16 margin and had 13 offensive rebounds which translated into 17 second chance points. Mike Allison pulled down a game-best 10 boards while adding six points to that number.

The Hawks hit the road for their next two league games, starting with a trip to Stony Brook to face the Seawolves on Sat., Jan. 12 at 2:00 p.m. Jeff Dooley and Randy LaVigne will have the call on WDRC-1360 AM, Hartford's flagship station for men's basketball.