USM Men's Basketball: Southern Maine 92, University of Southern Maine 75

Men’s College Basketball

Three Players in Double Figures as Huskies Drop UNE 92-75

Thomas, Ward, Hawes Combine for 60 Points

 

GORHAM, Maine – Unselfish play and hot-shooting from three-point range led the University of Southern Maine Huskies’ men’s basketball team to a 92-75 win over the University of New England Nor’easters in non-conference men’s basketball game Tuesday night at Hill Gymnasium.  

 

A red-hot 6-for-10 effort from senior Jacobe Thomas (Houston, Texas/Benjamin O. Davis) highlighted an outstanding three-point effort (15-for-37) for the Huskies in their home-opening win.  

 

The Records: 

University of New England (0-2)

Southern Maine (1-1)

 

Series History: Meeting for the 60^th time, USM now leads UNE 45-15 in the series history.  USM played UNE one during the abbreviated COVID schedule and earned a 62-60 win over the Nor’easters.  The Huskies are 2-0 in their last two meetings with UNE.  

 

Standout Huskies: Thomas finished the game with 26 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Sophomore guard Trevor Ward (West Park, Fla./McArthur) added 18 points and five assists, while junior Cody Hawes (Carmel, Maine/Hermon) filled the stat sheet with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four steals and a blocked shot. 

 

Standout Nor’easter:  Freshman Sam McElliot (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North) was 7-for-13 from the field for 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.  Senior Ric Castillo (Methuen, Mass.) added 12 points. 

 

How It Happened: 

·      USM scored the first basket of the game on a Hawes’ layup on a feed from Thomas and led wire-to-wire in the win.  The Huskies raced out to a 10-point 13-3 lead in the opening three minutes. Thomas scored six of the Huskies’ first 13 points. 

·      A pair of free throws from Ward gave the Huskies’ their largest margin of the first half, 36-20, with 4:26 remaining until the halftime break.  UNE made it a single-digit contest closing the first half, outscoring USM 14-8 before the halftime buzzer, to trail 44-35.  Freshman Nick Donofrio (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) connected on back-to-back threes in the Nor’easter run. 

·      UNE started the second half with a three from freshman Joey Ragosta (Carnston, R.I./Cranston West) to make it a two-possession game for the Nor’easters, 44-38, but Southern Maine responded with an 24-8 run over the next nine minutes to take a commanding 66-46 lead with 11:02 to go.  Thomas ripped the nets for three three-pointers and a layup in the run for 11 points. 

·      UNE never got any closer than 16 points the rest of the game, and USM led by as many as 27 points, 90-63, with 3:18 to play. 

 

Inside the Stats: 

·      USM shot 51.4 percent (36-for-70) from the field as a team, including 55.2 percent (16-for-29) in the first half.  Nine different Huskies scored in the game, with the bench scoring 17 points.  Sophomores Simon Chadbourne (Westbrook, Maine) and Owen Wilson (Saco, Maine) each had six points off of the bench.  

·      Led by junior Marcus Christopher’s  (Skowhegan, Maine) game-high 13 rebounds, USM had a 38-31 lead on the glass.  Christopher had six offensive rebounds. 

 

Up Next: 

Southern Maine hosts UMPI, Regis (Mass.) and Lehman in the USM Tip Off Tourney this weekend.  The Huskies face UMPI on Friday (5:00 pm).