Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Black Bears 72, New Hampshire 53


McLemore leads country in 3s
Bernal hits a milestone

Nothing feels better for a road team than taking the air out of a large and loud crowd and then sending them to the exits early. That's what the Black Bears did Wednesday at New Hampshire.

In a wire-to-wire performance (excuse me if we overlook the fact UNH briefly tied the game at 8-8 after the Black Bears jumped out to an 8-0 lead), UMaine put the clamps on, hounding the Wildcats into 28-percent shooting from the floor.

The Black Bears received solid contributions from a variety of sources, beginning with Gerald McLemore, who ripped the nets for 30 points and was 7 of 10 on 3-pointers. McLemore now leads the entire country in 3-pointers made with 92.

Murphy Burnatowski kicked in 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots as UMaine established superiority in the paint. Troy Barnies came off the bench and provided a spark with 14 points and five rebounds. His spin move to his left hand for a second half lay-in was a highlight move, as were a couple of follow-up dunks late in the game.

Junior Bernal had another solid all-around game with five points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Bernal surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career with a free throw early in the game.

All this was done with Sean McNally limited by foul trouble and a sore foot (tweaked in practice a couple days ago). Mike Allison, Terrance Mitchell and Andrew Rogers also provided strong play as UMaine won going away.

The Black Bears were able to maintain their 16-point halftime lead despite 21 turnovers (one of the only sore spots of the game).

New Hampshire was only 2 of 15 (13 percent) from deep in the game, while UMaine hit 10 of 19 (53 percent).

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