Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Nittany knockoff

Murphy Burnatowski scored 20 points and Terrance Mitchell added 17, leading the Black Bears to a 74-64 upset of Penn State Tuesday afternoon.

The victory over the Big Ten's Nittany Lions is UMaine's second of the season over a power conference school. Earlier, the Black Bears defeated UMass from the Atlantic 10.

UMaine has won four straight and has one non-conference game left on the schedule, a Dec. 30 date with Columbia at Alfond Arena.

The Black Bears open the America East season Jan. 2 with a home game against Boston University, the pre-season league favorite.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Pit pushover

Terrance Mitchell scored 22 points and Gerald McLemore 12 as the Black Bears cruised past Norfolk State 74-54 Sunday.

The game was played at The Pit.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Ambush in Amherst

UMaine shook out of its recent doldrums to knock off the Atlantic 10's UMass 68-56 Monday night.

The Black Bears, coming off two straight home losses and four overall, limited the host Minutemen to 29 percent shooting and posted a 39-33 advantage on the backboards.

UMaine's bench provided 43 points, led by Malachi Peay and Terrance Mitchell who both scored 10 points. Alasdair Fraser had nine points and Mike Allison added seven points and six rebounds.

Gerald McLemore led the Black Bears with 12 points. Troy Barnies had seven points and 10 rebounds.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Stinging loss

UMaine gave up 46 points in the second half for its second consecutive loss at home and fifth overall as Delaware State left Orono with a 75-56 victory.

The Black Bears haven't won a Division 1 game since the Nov. 12 opener at Utah Valley.

UMaine did not have a player from the starting lineup score in double figures. Raheem Singleton (11 points) and Murphy Burnatowski (10 points, 8 rebounds) led the Black Bears, who shot 37 percent from the floor.

The Hornets, whose only D1 win entering the game was against Maryland-Eastern Shore, connected on 46 percent of its shots, including 8 of 21 (38 percent) from behind the arc.

The Black Bears travel to UMass Wednesday before returning home to face Norfolk State on Dec. 12.

UMaine has five non-conference games left before the America East season begins. Two of the games are guarantee games (at UMass and Penn State) and three are at home (Norfolk State, Colgate and Columbia).

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Brown out

UMaine's early-season struggles continued Saturday with a 62-54 loss at home to Brown.

Both teams shot less than 40 percent from the floor, but the visitors from Providence connected on all 17 of their free throws while the Black Bears hit just 58 percent (7 of 12).

Murphy Burnatowski led the Black Bears with 15 points. Raheem Singleton had 11.

UMaine was once again beaten on the backboards as Brown posted a 31-29 advantage. As a team, the Black Bears are ranked 332nd in the country in rebounding.

Sean McNally, Gerald McLemore and Terrance Mitchell combined for only 10 points on 4 for 18 shooting. McLemore's early-season woes continued. In 36 minutes, the preseason all-America East pick had four points and no rebounds, assists, steals or blocks.