BANGOR – The University of Maine at Farmington men’s basketball team secured a massive North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory on the road against Husson University. Friday evening’s game was a low-scoring, grind it out, defensive battle that the Beavers were able to pull out, 49-44.
Husson took control in the opening minutes of the game after Andre McCauley went on a 7-0 run by himself as the Eagles took a 9-2 lead. The Beavers battle back quickly. Simon Chadbourne (Portland, Maine) drilled a three to put an end to McCauley’s run and sparked a 12-3 Beavers run to open up their first lead of the ball game.
After a Scott Lewis layup knotted the game up at 14, Chadbourne kept the hot shooting rolling, hitting a pair of threes to help the Beaver open up a six-point lead with 8:12 left to play in the opening half.
A Derek Collin three cut the Beavers’ lead to three with 6:39 to play in the half. After the Collin three, the Beavers closed the half on a 10-2 run to open up a 32-21 lead head into halftime.
The Beavers’ defensive pressure created problems all night for the Eagles, holding Husson to just 7-29 shooting from the field in the opening half and just 30.5% (18-59) for the game. The Eagles shot just 2-21 from beyond the arc in the game. The Beavers also forced 17 Eagle turnovers that led to 14 points on the other end.
The Beavers opened up a 15-point lead to start the 2nd half after Brock Flagg (Brewer, Maine) and Zachary Mickle (Billerica, Mass.) hit back-to-back jumpers on the first two possessions of the half.
Husson cut the lead back down to ten after layups from Jared Balser and Derek Collin layups. But Jordan Anthony (Farmington, Conn.) and Chadbourne hit consecutive jumpers in the lane to push the Beavers’ lead back up to 14 with just over 12 minutes to play.
Over the next six minutes of gametime, Husson went on an 11-3 run to cut the Farmington lead to six with six minutes to play in the game. Tope Alao hit a layup and a big three to close out the run for Husson.
Both teams were held scoreless for the next two and a half minutes of the game until a McCauley layup with 3:34 to play made it a 46-42 game. Two possessions later Lewis hit a turnaround in the lane to cut the Beavers’ to just two with 2:14 to play.
Both teams had the turnover bug down the stretch as the Beavers turned the ball over on three out of four possessions. The Eagles did not take care of the ball either, as a big turnover from Lewis with 30 seconds to play forced the Eagles to have to foul and send the Beavers to the free throw line. Mickle hit both free throws to make it a four-point game with 16 seconds to play.
On the ensuing Eagle possession, Riles Neff missed a three from the top of the key that was rebounded by Dylan Griffin (Saco, Maine) to all but seal the victory for the Beavers. Griffin got fouled with two seconds left and hit one of two at the line to make it a 49-44 game and give the Beavers their 15th victory of the season.
The Beavers moved to 8-3 in NAC East play despite being held without a field goal for the final 7:45 of the game. Chadbourne scored a game-high 19 points, drilling four threes in the victory. Anthony added nine points and five boards while Mickle finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and four assists for Farmington.
McCauley paced the Eagles with 15 points while Lewis added eight points and seven rebounds off the bench.
UP NEXT
The Beavers travel to Waterville to take on Thomas College for the second time this season on Tuesday evening. The game is set for 5:30 p.m.
