PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – The UMPI Owls men’s basketball team hosted the first round of the North Atlantic Conference playoffs. As the third seed the Owls hosted the Terriers of Thomas College, sitting as the sixth seed in the East Division of the NAC. The Owls came away with the win 83-71 after the Terriers nearly came back.
The Owls’ consistency on the defensive end is one of the main factors in their playoff win, holding Thomas to only 71 points, not allowing the Terriers to get comfortable on the offensive end and sending the Terriers to the free throw line eight times. The Owls finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field and 53 percent from the three, including 20 assists as a team.
The start of the game was very one sided, in the Terriers favor as they found themselves up 8-0 early in the game, keeping that lead until five minutes into the game. The Owls then went on a run to tie it up 20 each ten minutes into the game. The Owls continued to slowly push their lead up, finishing the first half up 13 points. As the Owls pushed their lead to 15 to start the second half, the Terriers continued to battle back into the game to bring the Owls lead to just 10 with under five minutes to go. Although the Owls were able to secure the win with some late game free throws.
The Owls were led by Griffin Guerrette (Presque Isle) as he scored 23 points in front of his home crowd. His 23 points came off 50 percent shooting, 2-3 from the three and 7-8 from the free throw line, also tallying five rebounds and five assists. Dany Harris (Danbury, Connecticut) yet again had an efficient night with 21 points off 8-11 shooting and knocking down 5-6 free throws. Gilbert Jean Mendez (Clearwater, Florida) started the game hot with a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc in the first half, finishing the game with 15 points on 5-11 shooting and 3-4 from the three.
Kj Minter (Elkton, Maryland) led the Owls with 13 rebounds, including some big late-game boards to help put the game away, also finishing with eight points. The Terriers had two players with a double-double, Sawyer Deprey finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Demetris Webster finished with 15 points and 10 assists.
