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ORONO, Maine — Finally!
The University of Maine third-seeded men’s basketball team was looking to win its first America East tournament game in 21 years on Saturday night against a battle-tested UMass Lowell team that has reached the league championship game the previous two seasons and in three of the last four.
And the Black Bears snapped their 18-game postseason losing streak with a 72-64 quarterfinal victory at an energized and loud Skip Chappelle Court in the Memorial Gym.
Kellen Tynes had 20 points for the 19-13 Black Bears. Jaden Clayton and A.J. Lopez had 16 apiece and Quion Burns had 11 points.
Max Brooks’ 25 points and Quinton Mincey’s 23 paced the 17-15 River Hawks.
After a shaky start in which the Black Bears made just three of their first 10 field goal attempts and fell behind by seven on two different occasions, the Black Bears outscored UMass Lowell 28-16 to take a 34-29 lead into the intermission.
Lopez and Burns had eight points apiece to lead UMaine with Tynes adding seven and Clayton accounting for six.
Mincey and Brooks had 12 apiece for UMass Lowell.
