FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington basketball programs made a clean sweep over the University of Maine at Augusta on Wednesday night at the Dearborn Gym.
Helped by a 19-0 run midway through the first half, the UMF men cruised to a 97-80 win over UMA in the first game. The Beavers were led by senior guard Terion Moss, who scored 31 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Senior center Jack Kane had 14 points, eight rebounds and six blocks for UMF.
“It’s a fun group to coach,” UMF head coach Sam Leal said. “They’re very unselfish, they give good effort every day. They want to be prepared for every single game, no matter the opponent… We’ve stuck together through the longest adversity (COVID-19), and I think that’s been our superpower. Other teams may have lost or added some new players. We have the same group (that trained together during the pandemic), and I know we’re better because of that.”
It’s the fourth win in a row for the Beavers (4-1), with the lone loss coming to Division I Maine in the season opener on Nov. 12 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The Moose (2-8) and Beavers battled back and forth to start the game, before UMF went on a 19-0 run. The Beavers were especially successful from beyond the arc, going 10 of 20 in 3-pointers. Moss led UMF with 13 points in the half.
“We’re starting to play well together,” Moss said. “We’re starting to put things together. We’re trying to work on finding the post more often when we’re down the court. Just playing together, to be honest.”
The Beavers continued to cruise in the second half with a well-rounded offensive effort, which included 28 points from players off the bench. Starters Kyle Donlin, Zach Brown and Dylan Griffin each added eight points for UMF, while Nathan Poulin added eight off the bench
UMA was scrappy and showed fight throughout the contest. The Moose were led by junior guard Elijah Smith, who scored 34 points, going 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. He also had seven rebounds.
University of Maine at Farmington’s Jack Kane (55) blocks a shot by University of Maine at Augusta’s Yonas Media (21) on Wednesday in Farmington. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
“We’ve got a bunch of young guys,” Smith said. “I feel like it’s a confidence thing. Once we get that down, we should be fine. UMF is a good team, it’s always tough when you play against them.”
Trevor Beals added 24 points for UMA.
The UMF women also used a major run, albeit in the second half, to beat UMA 62-54 in the second game. Senior forward Page Brown led the Beavers (5-2) with 13 points, while senior guard Alex Bessey added 12 points.
Neither the Beavers or Moose (3-4) gained much ground in the first half, with five different lead changes. The game was tied 12-12 after the first quarter, before UMF outscored UMA 14-11 in the second quarter to take a 26-23 halftime lead. Bessey led the Beavers with 10 points in the first half, while Madeline Suhr had eight points for the Moose.
But UMF pulled ahead with a 15-0 run in the third quarter, led by senior guard and Monmouth Academy graduate Tia Day, who finished with 10 points. The Beavers would outscore the Moose 21-14 in the quarter.
“The energy was much better in the second half,” UMF interim head coach Nate Carson said. “We got back to our roots where, if we play good defense, we get out and run, we don’t need to play our offense, we don’t have to do anything like that. They like that, that’s how they want to play the game, and it works. It just starts with the defense.”
The Moose continued to fight and chipped away at the lead, outscoring the Beavers 17-15 in the fourth quarter. Suhr scored a game-high 18 points for UMA, while Tazneji Valencia added 10 points.
“It got away from us a little bit in the third,” UMA head coach Heath Cowan said. “But the kids didn’t hang their heads, they kept fighting. We closed with a couple baskets in a row there. When you make shots, the game looks a lot easier. We’re not making a lot of shots, but I thought the shots we were taking were decent. Our offense is still kind of stagnant. We’re not in great movement yet, but I think we’ll get there. Certainly UMF is a good team. Clearly, in the conference they play in, they’re going to be very successful. We’re hopeful in our conference, we’re going to be pretty successful, too.”
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