Kristians Feierbergs made back-to-back 3-pointers in the closing minutes and finished with 18 points, lifting Maine to a 75-70 upset win over UMass Lowell in an America East men’s basketball game Wednesday night in Bangor.
Feierbergs was 7 for 8 from the field and 4 for 4 from 3-point range. His consecutive 3-pointers gave Maine (8-12, 2-5 America East) a 64-57 lead with 4:39 remaining.
UMaine has won two straight after an eight-game losing streak.
Kellen Tynes added 15 points. Gedi Juozapaitis, Maine’s leading scorer, dealt with foul trouble and finished with 10 points, including a pair of late baskets that helped the Black Bears maintain their lead.
Peter Filipovity (11 points) and Jaden Clayton (10) were also in double figures.
UMass Lowell (17-5, 5-3), which entered the game in first place in America East, was paced by Abdoul Karim Coulibaly with 16 points.
SOUTHERN MAINE 87, RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE 76: Cody Hawes scored 18 of his career-high 28 points in the first half, and the Huskies (11-8, 5-5 Little East) built a 53-31 halftime lead on their way to a win over the Anchormen (6-12, 4-6) in Gorham.
Hawes also had 10 rebounds and six assists. Diego Colon chipped in with 15 points, and Jason Lombard scored 10.
(3) HOUSTON 82, UCF 71: Emanuel Sharp came off the bench to score 18 points and visiting Houston (19-2, 7-1 American Athletic Conference) bounced back from a loss that knocked it from the top spot in the rankings, beating UCF (13-7, 4-4).
Jarace Walker added 17 points, Jamal Shead had 14 points and 10 assists, and Marcus Sasser also scored 14 for the Cougars, who lost 56-55 at home to Temple on Sunday.
Ithiel Horton scored 18 points and Taylor Hendricks had 17 for UCF. Hendricks’ three-point play capped a 6-0 run that pulled the Knights within 67-62 with 7:02 remaining.
Horton was called for a flagrant foul with 3:19 left in the game. Sharp made two free throws to extend Houston’s lead to 74-64.
Shead swished a contested 3-pointer to give the Cougars a 78-67 lead with 2:15 remaining and Walker sank a shot from the baseline to make it 80-67 with 1:25 left, matching Houston’s biggest lead of the game.
(4) TENNESSEE 70, GEORGIA 41: Zakai Zeigler had 11 points and seven assists and host Tennessee (17-3, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) held its 10th opponent to 50 or fewer points in beating Georgia (13-7, 3-4).
Tobe Awaka came off the bench to score 10 points. Santiago Vescovi had six rebounds, four assists and six steals to go with his eight points as Tennessee got its first win at home since having its 25-game home winning streak stopped by Kentucky more than a week ago.
(13) XAVIER 82, (19) UCONN 79: Souley Boum scored 21 points, Colby Jones added 20 and Xavier (17-4, 9-1 Big East) went on the road and held off Connecticut (16-6, 5-6).
The win was the 13th in 14 games for the Musketeers and it gave them a season sweep over the struggling Huskies.
Jack Nunge had 12 points and Jerome Hunter added 11 for Xavier, which led by 17 in the first half and 39-24 at halftime.
Jordan Hawkins scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half for UConn, leading a comeback that fell just short.
Tristen Newton added 23 points for the Huskies, who won their first 14 games this season but have dropped 6 of 8 since.
KANSAS: Bill Self hasn’t had to go through many stretches like this in his 20 seasons at Kansas. Yet the coach hasn’t seemed angry or even all that discouraged during a rare three-game losing streak.
Self knows this isn’t the same Jayhawks team that won the national championship last season.
Kansas (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) has gone from having one of the nation’s most experienced rosters to a much younger group without a proven presence in the post in a loaded Big 12 Conference that may be better than ever.
“We don’t have as much margin for error as we’ve had in years past and that’s OK,” Self said. “But (when) you don’t have quite as much margin for error, and the other teams in the league are a lot better, it makes it tough.”
The ninth-ranked Jayhawks have lost three in a row for only the fourth time under Self. Each loss was to a ranked conference opponent, two on the road. The latest was 75-69 at Baylor on Monday night in a matchup of the last two national champions, the fifth win in a row for the 17th-ranked Bears.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’ve got to take a different approach and understand that it’s a marathon,” Self said. “It’s not an immediate reaction, because you can react immediately in this league, and you’ll have nine other teams go through the exact same thing at some point.”
Kansas is still loaded with talent.
Junior forward Jalen Wilson leads the Big 12 with in scoring at 21.4 points per game and is second in rebounds at 8.6. While streaky, freshman Gradey Dick (14.9 ppg) is the league’s top 3-point shooter at 43.7%, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. averages 7.3 rebounds. Dajuan Harris Jr. is one of the top assist men at 6.5 per game despite his extended shooting struggles.
But these Jayhawks are different than most of Self’s standout teams in the past that played through the post with big guys like David McCormack, Jeff Withy, Thomas Robinson or Udoka Azubuike.
McCormack was part of last year’s title team, along with first-round NBA draft picks Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun. The Jayhawks also lost ballhandler Remy Martin and veteran sharpshooter Jalen Coleman-Lands.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
UMAINE 61, UMASS LOWELL 50: Olivia Rockwood keyed an early run with a pair of 3-pointers and Adrianna Smith had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead visiting Maine to a win over UMass Lowell in an America East game.
The Black Bears (10-9, 6-1 America East) have won two straight and 6 of 7.
Maine ended the first quarter with an 11-2 run to open a 17-8 lead. The margin eventually grew to 47-26 by the end of the third.
Rockwood finished with 14 points, Caroline Bournemann had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaycie Christopher also scored 10 points.
Mili Carrera led Lowell (2-16, 1-7) with 16 points.
RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE 75, SOUTHERN MAINE 35: The Anchorwomen (17-2, 10-0 Little East) built a 36-13 halftime lead and cruised past the Huskies (5-12, 3-7) in Gorham.
Amy Fleming led USM with nine points. The Huskies were held below 25 percent from the field (14 of 57).
TEXAS 78, (14) OKLAHOMA 58: DeYona Gaston scored 19 points and Texas (15-6, 6-2 Big 12 Conference) routed visiting Oklahoma(16-3, 6-2) as the Sooners went 1-for-17 shooting in the third quarter and missed 17 straight shots in the second half.
(18) IOWA STATE 75, TCU 35: Ashley Joens scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her third straight double-double and visiting Iowa State (14-4, 6-2 Big 12 Conference) coasted to a win over TCU (6-14, 0-8).
Denae Fritz and Morgan Kane both added 13 points and Lexi Donarski had 10 for the Cyclones, who have won three straight. It was the ninth double-double of the season and 58th of her career for Joens, who also had three assists, two steals and a block.
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