By Adam LaFleur – The Spectator
February 28, 2019
BANGOR, Maine – The University of Maine men’s basketball team battled hard for forty minutes against the University of Albany, but ultimately came up short in a 63-54 loss at the Cross Insurance Center Sunday afternoon. Maine led for seventeen minutes of the first half with Andrew Fleming, Isaiah White, and Dennis Ashley providing consistent offense. Fleming put up 14 points and three rebounds for the Black Bears. White supplied 11 points and four rebounds. Ashley chipped in 10 points and three assists, but Maine found itself trailing the Great Danes 35-29 at halftime after a late first half push by the visitors.
Albany’s offense was led by freshman Cameron Healy out of Sydney, Australia. Healy led the Great Danes with 16 points in the contest. He also posted four rebounds, three assists, and went two for two from the charity stripe. Prior to attending U-Albany, Healy played high school basketball at Monteverde Academy in Florida and Scot’s College in Sydney. U-Albany has an established pipeline of Australian talent on its roster. Healy is one of three Great Danes players from down under.
U-Maine Men’s Basketball Action at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor
Photo Credit: Adam LaFleur
Another standout in Sunday’s contest was Albany’s Adam Lulka. Also a freshman from Sydney, Australia, Lulka put up 14 points, nine rebounds, and two assists for the Great Danes. Lulka took a rough spill to the hardwood floor in a fourth quarter scrum in Albany’s back court with Maine attacking, but the six-foot eight freshman shortly returned to the game. Seventeenth-year Albany Head Coach Will Brown had positive words on Lulka’s performance after the final buzzer.
“Lulka is a freshman, a young kid. We’re asking him to do more, be more aggressive, be tougher, and I thought he really competed against one of the best stars in the league in [Maine’s] Andrew Fleming who’s a heck of a player,” Brown said. “I thought Adam really stepped up his game today and that’s a big reason why we won.”
Black Bear fans have a few bright spots to look back on in Sunday’s loss. Maine scored 21 points off turnovers in the game compared to Albany’s 18. The Black bears also found more points in the paint than the Great Danes, putting up 30 in the lane as opposed to Albany’s 28. Substitutions helped the Great Danes who scored 15 points off the bench compared to Maine’s 10 bench points on the afternoon. Albany also had a big day from junior Amhad Clark and senior Devonte Campbell, who chipped in 13 and 11 points respectively.
“Once we settled down, in the last thirty minutes, I thought we played really good defense,” Brown said. “I thought we rebounded fairly well. Maine’s a big team, a very physical team. Richard Baron does a tremendous job coaching them. They controlled the tempo. I’ve been impressed with them all year. I knew we were going to have to come up here and try to out compete them…we made just enough plays to get out of here with a road win.”
Maine falls to 3-9 in America East with the loss and 5-22 overall on the season. Albany improves to 4-7 in conference play and 9-17 overall with the victory. The Great Danes travel to Stony Brook for their next contest on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Black Bears are next in action Saturday at 7 p.m. also at Stony Brook University on Long Island.