Senior guard A.J. Lopez poured in a game-high 24 points and the University of Maine men’s basketball team scored the game’s first 14 points en route to a fourth straight America East victory, 87-62, over the University of Maryland Baltimore County at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Saturday afternoon.
UMaine improved to 12-8 overall and 4-1 in conference play while UMBC fell to 9-10 and 1-3, respectively.
UMaine’s 4-1 start in conference play is the program’s best since the 2010-11 team went 9-1.
Lopez reached double figures for the fifth straight game and he is averaging 20.6 points per game during that stretch.
He also had three steals and two rebounds.
Senior guard Quion Burns complemented Lopez with 19 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists. The 11 rebounds and four steals were game-highs.
Graduate student guard Kellen Tynes garnered 11 points, a game-high seven assists, three steals and two rebounds. Senior forward Christopher Mantis scored 11 points and also had three rebounds and two steals and junior forward Keelan Steele finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two steals.
UMBC was led by senior guard Marcus Banks Jr., who had 13 points and two rebounds. UMaine held UMBC leading scorer Bryce Johnson to eight points, 10 below his average. He also had six rebounds and three assists. Graduate student forward Josh Odunowo and junior forwards Louie Jordan and Regimantas Ciunys each had six points.
Odunowo had four rebounds, two assists and two steals, Ciunys had three rebounds and Jordan grabbed two rebounds.
Steele opened the game with a pair of layups to give UMaine a lead it would never relinquish. Lopez followed with a traditional 3-point play off a layup and a foul and then a long three before Burns and Tynes finished the 14-0 run off with baskets.
The Retrievers pulled within eight late in the first half but UMaine ended the half on a 12-2 spurt and the Black Bears eventually pulled away in the second half.
UMaine shot 56.3 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc compared with UMBC’s 41.4 percent and 36.8 percent showing.
UMaine outscored UMBC 28-13 off turnovers and 42-32 in the paint.
UMBC came into the game averaging a league-high 82.9 points per game.
Both teams will play again on Thursday.
UMaine will visit UMass Lowell for a 6 p.m. game while UMBC will travel to Albany for a 6:30 p.m. tip off.
