ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine Black Bears notched another win in the Memorial Gym Thursday night with a 78-74 victory over the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders.
It was Kellen Tynes’ night from start to finish. The graduate student guard set the UMaine men’s basketball record for all-time career steals just over two minutes into the game, and he sealed the win with an offensive rebound before running out the clock to end the second half.
“I was always taught you can kind of change the game with your defense, so that’s what I try to go out there and do,” Tynes said after the game. He finished with three steals and two blocks.
UMaine improves to 7-1 at home this season, 7-2 in America East Conference play and 15-9 overall. NJIT fell to 5-19 overall.
Guard A.J. Lopez led the scoring for UMaine with 23 points, followed by Tynes with 16, guard Quion Burns with 12 and forward Keelan Steele with 11. Burns just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds.
Lopez cited the Black Bears’ grit and togetherness as major factors in their improvement this year.
“We all like each other, we all bond with each other. So I feel like that played a major role in us winning,” Lopez said after the game.
Burns started off the game’s scoring with a 3-pointer. After UMaine jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter, NJIT surged back to tie it at 12-12.
Maine led 41-35 at half. The Black Bears never trailed in the second half, but the Highlanders kept it interesting down to the wire.
NJIT brought it back within two points with 13 minutes to go, but a big 3-pointer from Christopher Mantis pushed the lead back to five.
Tynes provided a crowd-awakening block against a bigger NJIT player, then followed it up with an and-1 down the other end of the floor to put UMaine up nine with 5:45 left to play.
“It felt good. You know, the crowd got into it a little bit too,” Tynes said about the back-to-back plays. “Guys made plays all night. A.J. stepped up big for us. (Jaden Clayton) knocked down free throws, Chris has been a huge spark for us off the bench. I feel like I’m just doing my part for the team.”
Despite a balanced team effort from UMaine, NJIT would not go away in the second half. A clutch 3-pointer from NJIT forward Jordan Rogers as the shot clock expired, followed by a powerful dunk by teammate Tim Moore, shrunk the lead to four points with just under five minutes left.
But free throws from Clayton, Tynes and Lopez helped secure the win for UMaine. The Black Bears are second in the America East standings, one game behind Bryant University. It was a bounce-back win for UMaine after a Saturday away loss to the University of Vermont.
UMaine head coach Chris Markwood called this group of players “a joy to coach” and said he’s “excited to see where this thing could go.” He called the Black Bears a group of team-first guys and hardworkers.
“What you see is just a locker room full of really good, great young men,” Markwood said after the win.” They get along well, they build each other up, they carry each other through the tough times. And I think they’re connected. They’re really connected, and you’re not going to see some of the strides we’ve made without a connected basketball team, without a tight locker room.”
