On Feb. 2, the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s men’s basketball team played Thomas College in a back-and-forth contest. UMPI’s teamwork and determination showed as it had five players with 10 or more points.
The first half had UMPI facing adversity. They fell behind by double digits twice, but the Owls clawed back into the game each time. When down 25-15, UMPI went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 25-22, led by Luke Petersen’s 3-pointer. When Thomas went on a 7-0 run again, upping the lead to 32-22, it was again Petersen who broke the run with another 3-pointer. Petersen finished with 10 points.
UMPI basketball coach Daniel Kane explained what happened to their defense during the scoring runs Thomas made. “A couple times when we fell behind in the first half and then at the end of the game we broke down on our defensive end, missed assignments, not doing the right coverages and not rebounding the basketball.” He also explained how UMPI went on runs to get back into the game. “It was led by getting good defensive stops, boxing out and getting rebounds, and that led to fast breaks and getting easy buckets in transition. Our guys did a really good job capitalizing when we got on the break.”
Wil Griffiths led UMPI with 21 points and six rebounds. It was his second game of the season with 20 or more points. “Wil had a great offensive game. He played very well. Wil helped equalize their best player,” Coach Kane said. Thomas was led by Lovegeurson Fleurine with 19 points and eight rebounds. “He is probably the best post player in the conference. Wil really shut him down in the first half, holding him to zero points. If you would have told me that Wil would outscore him, I would’ve said that we won the game. Unfortunately, he got going in the second half and we had trouble stopping him,” Coach Kane said.
Michael Gilman hit five 3-pointers for Thomas off the bench, including four in the first half, which helped Thomas sustain its long runs. “He was a big difference. He’s a knockdown shooter,” Coach Kane said. Gilman only made one 3-pointer in the second half, showing UMPI’s defensive adjustments and attention to detail. Te’Von Hines helped equal the bench scoring for UMPI. He had 10 points and eight rebounds.
The second half started with baskets from UMPI’s two leading scorers, Shyquinn Dix and Griffin Guerette. Guerette and Dix both finished the game with 11 points. Dix also added eight assists and five rebounds. It was his seventh game of the season finishing with 10 or more points and five or more rebounds and assists. His versatility to rebound as a point guard helps the team get fast breaks. Fast breaks were the key to UMPI’s offense as Coach Kane said.
UMPI later took a 50-49 lead with 10 minutes left in the second half. UMPI’s biggest lead was 55-51. Thomas went on scoring runs to win the game 82-71, but UMPI was always in the game. The wide spread of the scoring output shows that UMPI plays as a team, wins as a team and sometimes gets defeated as a team. The team members ability to fight back being down double digits more than once shows their persistence to never give up.
