The University of Maine men’s basketball sophomore guard Kellen Tynes took the game over in the final minutes to lead the Black Bears to a 66-58 victory on Wednesday against Central Connecticut State.
UMaine led for much of the game, and were up 36-30 at halftime. The Black Bears never gave up the lead, but CCSU was able to make it a 47-47 game with 10:53 to play.
Tynes had two steals and layups for UMaine sandwiched around a layup from UMaine forward Peter Filipovity that quickly gave UMaine a 53-47 advantage with 8:45 left in the game.
Black Bear forward Gedi Juozapaitis drilled a three to give UMaine a 56-48 lead with 6:41 to play and they quickly had a lot of momentum.
Kellen Amos of CCSU scored a layup to pull the Blue Devils within three, 58-55, with 3:25 left to play.
Tynes got the ball with about 2:20 left on the clock at the top of the 3-point line, crossed over and got by his defender and laid it in to put UMaine up 60-55 with 2:11 to play.
After Amos hit a three to get within 60-58 with 1:35 remaining, Tynes was fouled and hit both free throws with 1:18 left.
Tynes then stole the ball with 25 seconds left and found Juozapaitis for an easy layup and a 64-58 lead.
Tynes hit two free throws at the end of the game to put the contest away with nine seconds left.
The sophomore guard finished with 23 points, five steals, three assists and two blocks. Juozapaitis led with 24 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
CCSU was paced by Amos’ 13 points, while Jayden Brown added 11 points off the bench.
The Black Bears shot 5-20 from beyond the 3-point line, a low on the season. However, after shooting 1-3 from the free throw line in the first half, UMaine shot 8-8 in the second half.
UMaine’s biggest lead was 14 points in the first half.
The Black Bears’ next game is at Brown University on Sunday, Nov. 27.