WATERVILLE, Maine — The University of Maine at Presque Isle men’s basketball team began its season impressively, winning both games in the Charlie Ryan Classic hosted by Thomas College Friday and Saturday.
The Owls beat Pine Manor of Newton, Massachusetts, in Friday’s opener, 92-73, before handling the UM-Machias Clippers Saturday by a score of 85-71.
In Friday’s contest, UMPI went on a 36-11 run to end the first half against the Gators. After a slow start for both teams, the Owls were down by 12 points midway through the first half. The UMPI offense then came to life, which resulted in the team taking the lead with 4:38 remaining before intermission. Hot shooting put the Owls up at the half, 45-32.
Pine Manor made a run to start the second half and were down by just seven points with 16 minutes to play. At that point, the Owl offense took over again in opening up a 23-point lead with just under 10 minutes to play and UMPI cruised to the victory.
The Owls connected on 15 of their 31 attempts from 3-point distance and shot 49.1 percent overall, compared to 41.3 percent for the Gators, who went just 3 of 19 behind the three-point line. It translated into a successful debut for first-year head coach Dan Kane.
“We had great energy and effort tonight,” he said. “Shot with confidence and did a great job of executing our defensive game plan. We need to improve on turnovers, however we were able to hit big shots when Pine Manor made a run at a comeback.”
Kevin Collins, a senior from Fort Washington, Maryland, led all scorers with 25 points, including six 3-pointers. Maurice Harris, a senior from Miami, Florida, also hit six 3-pointers en route to 24 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds.
Deandre Duncombe, a freshman from Port St. Lucie, Florida, turned in some solid statistics with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Willburn Griffiths, a sophomore from Queens, New York, recorded a double-double by collecting 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The following afternoon against in-state rival UM-Machias, the Owls never trailed and a 22-11 run late in the first half gave them an 11-point lead at halftime.
The lead grew to 26 points with just under nine minutes to play before the Clippers went on a late run that fell short.
UM-Machias turned the ball over 21 times and struggled shooting from behind the arc, hitting just one out of 10 attempts. The Owls converted 11 of their 28 3-point attempts, and shot 47.1 percent from the field overall.
“We had a balanced offensive attack with all of our starters scoring eight points or more,” Kane said. “We did a good job flying the ball up the court and had another great night shooting.”
Anthony Chacho, a senior from Watertown, Connecticut, led all scorers with 22 points and was named to the all-tournament team after going five of nine from 3-point range and adding three rebounds and three steals.
Duncombe had 19 points and five boards and Harris scored 12 points and notched seven rebounds.
Travonne Thompson, a freshman from Melbourne, Florida, had a big game for the Clippers with 20 points and 17 rebounds.
UMPI plays its first home game Tuesday as it hosts Husson University at 6 p.m.
