UAlbany bounces back and picks up 66-60 win over Maine

ALBANY, NY » Playing its second of two-straight road games, the University at Albany men’s basketball team bounced back from a tough loss at Hartford to defeat Maine 66-60 behind a big all-around game from Ahmad Clark and another double-digit rebounding performance from Romani Hansen.

“I’m proud of my guys. It was an ugly game. We turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, but we hung tough. Maine has two outstanding players in Felming and El Darwich. Maine is big, they’re physical, and I thought they did a great job defensively swarming Ahmad,” said UAlbany Head Coach Will Brown. “We just found a way. I’m proud of our guys’ effort. We’re telling our guys the importance of controlling the controllables, and this time of the year you don’t get a prize for pretty wins. You just have to find a way to come away with a win. We did what was needed to be done today.”

Clark kicked off scoring with a three with 19:17 left in the first half to give UAlbany a quick lead. Clark went on to score UAlbany’s first 13 points.

Maine took its first lead of the

game, 9-8, with 16:17 remaining after a quick 4-0 run. Clark hit another three to put the Danes back on top, only to see the Black Bears quickly retake the lead.

With 14:08 remaining, Maine had built its lead to 15-11. UAlbany scored the next 10 points, including a three from Antonio Rizzuto, the first Great Danes besides Clark to score in the game, and a three from Cameron Healy, who extended his made-threes streak to 57 games after sitting out the Hartford game last week with an injury.

Maine ended UAlbany’s 10-0 run with a jumper with 9:41 to go. UAlbany was unfazed, and soon built a 3019 lead on an overall 19-4 run lasting eight-and-ahalf minutes of game time where the Danes shot 6-7 from the floor.

The Black Bears bounced back to close the first half on a 13-6 run, and would have gone into halftime with the lead before Clark hit a three with four seconds to go that put UAlbany ahead at the break 36-34.

Clark led all scorers at halftime with 16 points on 5-6 shooting, including 3-4 from three. Trey Hutcheson added eight points. The Great Danes collectively shot 52.2% from the floor in the first, and hit seven threes. Maine recorded nine steals in the first half, and forced 12 total UAlbany turnovers, leading to 10 points.

The Danes scored the first six points coming out of the locker room, bookending halftime with a combined 8-0 run, to take a 42-34 lead with 18:12 left in the second. Maine hit a layup to end the streak, but UAlbany responded right away to maintain their eight-point lead.

Adam Lulka hit a layup with 14:33 to go to put UAlbany up 11, 49-38. Two minutes later, Romani Hansen hit a three, keeping the Danes’ 11-point advantage in tact, 54-43.

Maine used a 12-2 run lasting nearly five-anda-half minutes to cut the lead to one, 56-55, with 6:04 remaining. Hutcheson stopped the bleeding with a three with 3:46 to give UAlbany some breathing room with a four-point lead.

Healy hit another three to put UAlbany up seven, before Maine responded with a three with 1:59 to go to close back within four. Clark scored the next four UAlbany points, including two clutch free throws with 14 seconds left, to clinch the game 66-60.

Clark finished with one of his best all-around performances, 23 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Hansen finished with 10 rebounds, marking his fifth double-digit rebounding performance in his last six games. The Danes cooled off from the floor in the second half, dropping to 39.3%, but held Maine to just 28.6% shooting and 14.3% from three after halftime.

UAlbany plays its next two at home, starting Thursday, February 20 against UMBC.