The University of Maine men’s basketball team will be looking to ascend the America East ladder this season beginning on Saturday when the Black Bears visit Bryant University for a mutual conference opener.
Tip off at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island, is 2 p.m.
UMaine posted a non-conference record of 8-7 while the Bulldogs went 6-9. UMaine has lost its last two games and the Bulldogs have lost their last four.
Bryant, 20-13 a year ago and 11-5 in conference play, thumped UMaine in their America East quarterfinal 84-58 before losing to second seed UMass Lowell 77-70 in the semifinals.
UMaine was 15-17 and 7-9, respectively.
UMaine hasn’t won a conference playoff game since it beat now-departed Boston University in the 2004-05 season.
Bryant was picked third in the America East preseason coaches poll while UMaine was chosen fourth, which represents its highest preseason position since the 2010-11 team was selected third.
UMaine and Bryant split their regular season games last season with each winning a close game at home.
The Black Bears posted a 79-72 victory at the Memorial Gym in Orono before losing 77-72 in Smithfield 12 days later.
The Black Bears are coming off two games that featured dramatic endings that didn’t go their way.
At Stony Brook they rallied furiously from 11 points down with 1:41 remaining, but came up two points short, 74-72.
Against Boston University at home, they squandered a seven-point lead over the last 2:10 and wound up losing 59-56. BU scored the game’s final 10 points.
Four of Bryant’s losses have been by two points or less.
The Bulldogs are 47th among 355 Division I teams in scoring, averaging 82.7 points per game, but they are just 334th on the defensive side of the ball, allowing 80.1 ppg.
UMaine is stronger defensively, ranking 72nd in the country with 66.5 ppg allowed but just 261st offensively averaging 72.1 ppg.
The matchup includes two guards who rank in the top three in the country in different categories.
UMaine graduate student Kellen Tynes, a two-time America East Defensive Player of the Year, is second in the nation in steals with 46 and third in steals per game with 3.07. He was an All-America East third team pick a year ago.
Bryant senior Rafael Pinzon is third in 3-point shooting percentage at 50.8 percent. He is the nation’s 46th leading scorer at 18.8 ppg.
Senior guard A.J. Lopez is UMaine’s leading scorer at 13.3 points per game. He has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games. He has also grabbed 2.8 rebounds per contest.
Tynes is averaging 12.6 ppg along with 4.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds and his 3.07 steals. He has scored in double figures in 10 of his last 11 games and is averaging 6.2 assists per game over his last 10 games.
Senior guard Quion Burns is the other Black Bear averaging in double figures in points at 12.4. He is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.1 per game.
Appalachian State transfer Christopher Mantis has averaged 8.5 ppg and 2.9 rpg off the bench. Over his last six games, he has averaged 11.2 ppg while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and 53.1 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Pinzon has averaged 3.8 rpg and 2.2 apg to go with his 18.8 ppg for Bryant.
Graduate student guard Earl Timberlake, an All-America East first team choice a year ago, is averaging 16.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg along with 4.6 apg. Junior forward Barry Evans has produced 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest and senior forward Connor Withers has averaged 10.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.3 assists and 1.9 steals and 1.7 blocked shots per game.
