FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington took down Thomas College in the inaugural Meader Cup on Tuesday evening. The Beavers built a double-digit 1st half lead and hung on down the stretch to bring the Dick Meader trophy home to Farmington, topping the Terriers, 74-66.
It was a special night where long-time Head Coach Dick Meader was honored for his incredible contributions to the game of basketball and his illustrious career coaching at both Thomas and UMF. Meader spent 17 seasons as the Head Coach at Thomas College and 19 years as the Athletic Director. At UMF, Meader spent 27 seasons as the Head Coach before retiring in 2020. Several of Meader’s family members were in attendance, several of whom graduated from either UMF or Thomas.
For the basketball game, after both teams struggled to gain their footing in the opening minutes, it was the Beavers who found their traction first.
Clinging to a 9-7 lead with 12:30 to play in the opening half, consecutive threes from Zachary Mickle (Billerica, Mass.) and Simon Chadbourne (Portland, Maine) followed by a layup from Jordan Anthony (Farmington, Maine) in 65 seconds of gametime turned the Beavers two-point lead into a quick ten-point advantage.
The Beavers led by as much as 17 in the opening half and took a 38-25 lead into halftime after holding the Terriers to just 27.3% (9-33) from the field and just 9.1% (1-11) from beyond the arc.
After the Beavers held a healthy lead for a majority of the opening half, the Terriers quickly changed the tide in their favor to start the 2nd half. Thomas opened up the half on a 15-4 run to narrow the gap to just two with 14:12 remaining in the game.
Thomas continued to claw back into the game after consecutive layups from Metin Yavuz and Cooper Wirkala knotted the game up at 49 apiece.
A big three-pointer from the left wing by Brayden St. Pierre (Readfield, Maine) broke the tie and began to shift the momentum back in favor of the Beavers. Ethan Forrester (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made several big plays down the stretch, hitting a three from the left wing of his own as well as getting into the lane to break down the Terrier defense. Forrester made several plays, either getting all the way to the rim or drawing a foul to get himself to the free throw line. Forrester capped off his game sealing performance with a thunderous dunk along the baseline.
Jordan Anthony (Farmington, Conn.) hit four free throws down the stretch to close out the victory and secure the 11th win of the season for the Beavers.
Anthony scored a game-high 19 points while shooting an efficient 6-11 from the field and grabbing six rebounds. Forrester finished with 15 points on perfect 4-4 shooting from the field and knocking down a pair of threes in 15 minutes off the bench. Mickle added 13 points while Jason Reynolds (Winslow, Maine) pitched in with nine points and 12 rebounds.
For Thomas, Wirkala scored a team-high 16 points and snared 11 rebounds. Mark McDonald added 15 points while Yavuz added 11 points.
The Beavers improved to 11-8 on the season with a 4-5 record in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play. The Terriers dropped to 7-11 overall and 4-4 in NAC play.
UP NEXT – The Beavers travel to Vermont for a pair of games against Vermont State Lyndon on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game is scheduled to tip-off at 5:30 p.m.
