12/13/08
Men's basketball comes up short
A late rally by the University of Maine at Farmington men's basketball team came up short on Saturday as the Beavers fell to the University of New England 83-82 in non-conference action today at Dearborn Gymnasium.
The Beavers enter the holiday break at 3-4 with a trip to Plymouth State College slated for Jan. 8. The Nor'easters, winners of five straight games, improved to 6-3 and are scheduled to host the Jim Beaudry Classic on Jan. 2 and 3.
Quentin Thompson (Austin, TX) led all scorers with 25 points for UNE with Anthony Johnson (Austin, TX) chipping in 15 points, Chas Rentrope (Peoria, AZ) 12 and Jaykyri Simpson (East Cleburne, TX) 11.
Josh Tanguay (Gorham, ME) tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Beavers, while Eric Lelansky (Portland, ME) scored 17 points and Eric Taylor (Oakland, ME) threw in 15 points. Farmington made 51.6 percent (32 of 62) of its shots, including 50 percent (11 of 22) from 3-point range, but struggled at the foul line at 38.9 percent (7 of 18), while UNE converted 53.8 percent of its attempts (14 of 26).
The lead changed possession 14 times in the opening half with back-to-back 3-pointers by Lelansky and Ted Neil (Strong, ME) allowing the Beavers to forge a 37-30 advantage with three minutes until intermission. The Nor'easters outscored Farmington 10-2 -- including a pair of 3-point plays by Thompson -- to take a 40-39 edge into the break.
The game continued to see-saw in the second stanza with a 65-65 stalemate with 8:22 remaining in the game, but the Nor'easters scored nine of the game's next 10 points to take a 74-66 command with 5:48 left. Another five points from Thompson helped in the stretch.
The Beavers did not bow out quietly as the hosts four times cut the lead down to a single possession. A running banked three by Andrew Dean (Gorham, ME) pushing the score to 83-82 with 2.3 seconds remaining was Farmington's final bid to grab the win, but the ensuing UNE pressbreaker allowed the Nor'easters to escape Farmington with the 83-82 win.
