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Men's Basketball Falls to Albany
Feb. 14, 2008
ORONO, Maine-- The University of Maine men's basketball team fell to Albany Thursday night by the score of 74-60. With the win, Albany improved to 13-12, 8-5 in America East. Maine fell to 7-17 and 3-8 in America East. Maine was led by Phil Tchkenae Bofia (Yaounde, Cameroon) who had 19 points, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Albany was led by Jon Iati (York, Pa.) who had 23 points and five rebounds. The Black Bears got off to a fast start, scoring the first seven points. Tchekane Bofia had two three-point shots in the first three minutes and change. The play of the first half came as Tchekane Bofia had a nice block on Albany's Al Turley (Houston, Texas). While Turley was going up to dunk it with two hands, Tchekane Bofia swatted the ball away with authority. The Great Danes came back, and with seven minutes to go in the first stanza Maine had a 23-to-19 lead. Troy Barnies (Auburn, ME.) had a nice play to extend the lead as he drove by his man and cut between two defenders for the layup. The Great Danes made a run to tie the game at 27. The Black Bears continued to battle, but the Great Danes took a 39-27 lead into halftime. Tchekane Bofia had a great first half with 17 points, three rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Iati led the Great Danes with 10 first half points. The Great Danes out-rebounded the Black Bears 19-to-12 and barely out-shot Maine 45-to-44 percent. In the first eight minutes of the second half, Maine battled back, reducing the Great Dane lead to seven points. Albany came running back, and made just enough three-pointers to push the lead out of the Black Bears' reach. Maine continued to battle hard, but had good shots that went in-and-out. Sean McNally (Gardiner, ME.) had another good game, posting a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.Mark Socoby (Houlton, ME.) added 14 points, three reounds and three assists while Kaimondre Owes (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 10 points and six assists.
For the game, the Black Bears shot 41 percent, 33 percent from three-point range while Albany shot 44 percent and 52 percent from three-point range. Maine played five freshmen, and gained valuable experience from the game. The Black Bears return to action on Sunday, Feb. 17 when they travel to Binghamton for a 2pm game. -U-M- |
