The University of Maine men’s basketball team shot a blistering 83.3 percent from the floor over the final 7:26 to outscore Elon (N.C.) 31-15 and earn a 69-56 win over the Phoenix in the Cathedral Classic Invitational hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at The Palestra in Philadelphia on Friday afternoon.
The Black Bears improved to 4-3 on the season while Elon fell to 3-3.
Elon was coming off a stunning 84-77 road victory over previously undefeated Notre Dame.
The Black Bears hit 10 of their last 12 field goal attempts to erase a three-point deficit after Elon had gone on an 18-7 run to take a 41-38 lead with 8:14 remaining.
Senior guard Quion Burns scored 12 of his team-high 16 points during that decisive end-of-the-game run including a pair of threes.
Three-pointers 31 seconds apart by senior guard A.J. Lopez and Burns gave the Black Bears some valuable breathing room with 4:12 remaining as it transformed a five-point edge into an 11-point bulge and the Phoenix couldn’t get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
UMaine fell behind 12-2 at the outset of the game before rattling off a 13-1 spurt that gave the Black Bears a 15-13 lead.
UMaine took a 29-23 advantage into the intermission.
Burns had five rebounds to go with his 16 points.
Graduate student guard Kellen Tynes dished out a career-high 13 assists to go with his 14 points and seven steals. The seven steals is just one shy of his career-high of eight that he had against Binghamton on Feb. 25, 2023.
Junior forward Killian Gribben had a career-high 13 points to go with eight rebounds for UMaine, which shared game-high honors with Elon’s Sam Sherry.
Lopez finished with eight points for UMaine, all coming during the rally at the end of the game.
Senior guard Christopher Mantis added seven points.
T.K. Simpkins had a game-high 21 points for the Phoenix. He also had six rebounds, two assists and two steals along with a blocked shot. His twin brother, T.J. contributed 10 points and five assists.
Sam Sherry had eight points and the eight rebounds.
UMaine forced 18 turnovers and turned those into 24 points. UMaine had just seven turnovers and Elon scored a 12 points off them.
UMaine had a 34-24 advantage when it came to points in the paint and the Black Bears also had a 24-15 edge in points off the bench.
UMaine shot 44.1 percent from the floor (26-for-59) and 31.8 percent beyond the 3-point arc (7-for-22) while Elon went 37.5 percent from the floor (18-for-48) and just 25 percent from long distance (6-for-24).
UMaine will take on UPenn on Saturday at 4:30 after Elon and Navy squared off at 2.
UMaine will finish the tourney with a noon date with Navy on Sunday with Elon and Penn tipping off at 2:30.
Penn and Navy squared off later Friday afternoon.
