America East Basketball News & Notes: Maine gets a win at BC

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The holiday week is here, and with that, we want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It was another solid week for the America East Conference as good wins were posted by several teams. Let’s take a look at how teams in the league are faring.

It did not take long for head coach Chris Markwood to make his mark with the Maine Black Bears (3-1) Last Monday night the Black Bears headed to Conte Forum and a date with Boston College out of the ACC. Led by Kellen Tynes’s double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, the Black Bears left Chestnut Hill with a 69-64 win over the Eagles. Maine would shoot the ball better than BC in all areas, from the field (45% to 41%) from 3-point land (31% to 28%), and from the free throw line (80% to 58%). They also outscored the Eagles in the paint by a 38-28 advantage.

The Black Bears received 16 points off the bench from Peter Filipovity, as well as double figures from two other starters in Kristians Feierberge (11 points) and Jo Shonte Wright-Mcleish (12 points). It is the kind of road win that could give this program some much-needed attention. This win was backed up on Friday night with a home win over Columbia of the Ivy League. The 93-70 win was paced by four of the five starters scoring in double figures. Off the bench, Filipovity added another 17 points. They shot 62% from the field, 35-of-56, and 61% from threes (11-of-18). Maine entered this week having won three in a row.

Another team playing good early-season hoops is the new kids on the block, the Bryant Bulldogs (4-1). They have just finished taking two of three in a tournament that was held in the state of Florida. Wins over Florida International and Detroit Mercy, along with a loss to Florida Atlantic, have gotten the Bulldogs off to a good start in the league. In the two wins putting the ball in the basket was not a problem. In the 91-85 win over FIU, four starters finished the game in double figures with Earl Timberlake finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. The win was helped out by 40 points in the paint. All five starters were in double figures in the 10-point win over Detroit Mercy, 98-88. Four of the five starters were in double figures in the loss to Florida Atlantic. In the five games to date, the starting five have shown to be the strength of this team.

University of Maryland-Baltimore County (3-2) finished a 2-0 week by getting home wins over Lafayette 71-63, and Central Connecticut State, 78-76. In the win over Lafayette, UMBC came back from a one-point halftime deficit with a strong second-half performance that was backed up by 30 bench points. Five players were in double figures. Matteo Picarelli came off the bench to score 19 and was the team’s leading scorer. Picarelli once again led his team to the win over CCSU by scoring 21 and leading the team again. Bench scoring was huge in the win as the team got 34 from the group. This was a nip-and-tuck game that had 12 lead changes and six ties.

It was an 0-2 week for the University of New Hampshire with losses to both Fordham and Boston University. In the 79-61 loss to the Rams, the Wildcats were never able to get a lead in the game. They shot only 32% from the field and 30% from three-point land which did not help. Only two players, Clarence Daniels (16) and Ridvan Tutic (18) were in double figures. In the home loss to BU, poor shooting once again contributed to the defeat as they shot 32% from the field, and 27% from 3-point land. Daniels was again the leading scorer with a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds. The Wildcats had a hard time getting out and running scoring only one fast break point and were outscored in the paint 34-16.

Twenty games are on tap for this week with Vermont heading to Nassau, Bahamas for a tournament that gets started on Friday. That’s a look at how the America East is doing. We will be back next week with more from the America East conference.