The University of Maine men’s basketball team won for the eighth time in nine games on Saturday afternoon, cruising to a 73-50 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County on the Skip Chappelle Court in the Memorial Gym in Orono.
UMaine improved to 16-9 overall and 8-2 in America East.
The eight conference wins are the most since the 2010-11 team went 9-7 in America East.
UMBC fell to 11-14 and 3-7, respectively, after absorbing its fourth straight loss.
Chris Markwood’s Black Bears built a 27-17 halftime lead behind senior guard A.J. Lopez’s nine points, senior forward Christopher Mantis’ eight and senior guard Quion Burns’ eight rebounds.
The Black Bears closed out the half with an 18-9 run and then sewed up the victory by opening the second half on a 14-2 flurry to expand the lead to a comfortable 41-19.
Lopez, who entered the game averaging 18.6 points per game over his previous nine games, paced all scorers with 17 points. He also had five rebounds and two assists.
Senior forward Mantis had 14 points, five rebounds and two steals.
Burns finished with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and he is now averaging 18.1 points and 9.3 rebounds over his last six games. He has scored in double figures in all six.
Graduate student guard Kellen Tynes, who set the school’s career steals record in Thursday’s win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology, had three more steals to up his total to 249 and he also contributed six points and six assists.
Junior forward Keelan Steele chipped in with six points, three assists and two rebounds and junior guard Jaden Clayton produced 11 assists and four steals, both game-highs, to go with four points and two rebounds.
Junior forwards Killian Gribben and Ridvan Tutric and sophomore guard Logan Carey all had four points with Carey also tallying two assists and two steals and Tutic hauling in four rebounds.
Senior guard Bryce Johnson led the Retrievers with 14 points and he also had five rebounds. Junior forward Louie Jordan and senior guard Marion Short each had seven points. Jordan also had seven rebounds and Short dished out three assists.
Graduate student forward Josh Odunowo, sophomore guard Ace Valentine and senior guard Marcus Banks Jr. each had six points. Odunowo also had four rebounbds, three steals and two blocks, Banks had five rebounds and two assists and Valentine had three rebounds.
UMaine shot 49.2 percent from the floor compared with UMBC’s 39.2 percent.
UMaine outrebounded UMBC 34-27 and outscored the Retrievers 20-7 in points off turnovers and 36-22 in the paint.
UMaine will next play at 2 p.m. Feb. 15 when it entertains Vermont. UMaine will be looking to avenge one of its two conference losses.
UMBC hosts Binghamton at 6 p.m. Thursday.
