The University of Maine men’s basketball team put four players in double figures and two more had nine points apiece as the Black Bears outlasted Canisius 84-79 at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, New York Saturday afternoon.
UMaine improved to 8-5 with its fourth win in its last five games, while Canisius remained winless at 0-11.
Senior guard Quion Burns led the way for the Black Bears with 17 points to go with a game-high seven rebounds. Graduate student guard Kellen Tynes produced 15 points, a game-high nine assists and four rebounds, and senior forward Christopher Mantis also had 15 points along with two rebounds.
Junior forward Killian Gribben chipped in with 10 points while junior guard Jaden Clayton and senior guard A.J. Lopez had nine points each.
Clayton also had seven assists and five rebounds, and Lopez had three rebounds and three assists.
Graduate student forward Jasman Sangha had a game-high 26 points for the Golden Griffins and he also had four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Junior guard Paul McMillan IV netted 22 points and dished out six assists to go with three rebounds.
Senior guard Tana Kopa scored 16 points and also had three rebounds and three assists.
The Black Bears led by as many as 15 in the first half and took a 44-35 lead into the locker room at the half.
Canisius closed to within two in the second half, 57-55, but Tynes’ two free throws and Mantis’ 3-pointer off a Tynes pass gave UMaine some breathing room at 62-55.
The Golden Griffins stayed within striking distance, cutting the lead to three on three different occasions.
The last three-point lead was 68-65, but UMaine rattled off the next six points to swell the lead to nine as Keelan Steele sank a pair of free throws, Burns hit a jumper and Tynes grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Burns and drained a short jumper.
The Black Bears all but sewed up the win with 38 seconds left when Gribben dunked the ball off a pass from Lopez during a fast break to make it 82-76.
UMaine will return to action on Saturday when it visits Stony Brook (N.Y.) for a 1 p.m. contest.
Canisis will visit Loyola-Chicago for an 8 p.m. game on Wednesday.
