ORONO — At times, the University of Maine men’s basketball team looks very good. However, they lack consistency, and that was the takeaway from Sunday afternoon’s 91-83 overtime loss to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in front of 835 fans in the Pit.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Black Bears, who fell to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in America East. NJIT improved to 4-11 overall, 1-1 in conference games.
“To be honest, that’s where this program is right now. I told the guys, it’s not coming to come easy. We have a long ways to go, and we’ve just got to keep chipping away,” said Chris Markwood, Maine’s first-year head coach.
The Black Bears led by 11 midway through the first half, then overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to lead by six, 73-67, with just under three minutes to play in regulation.
That inconsistency revealed itself again down the stretch, with the Black Bears giving up easy open shots to let NJIT retake the lead. Miles Coleman’s layup and free throw with 1:06 left in regulation put the Highlanders ahead 76-74, and Raheim Sullivan’s free throw with 23 seconds left pushed the lead to 77-74.
Maine’s Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish (16 points) sank a 3-pointer in front of his bench with nine seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.
NJIT Coach Brian Kennedy reminded his team to learn from its previous game, in which it surrendered a late 10-point lead to UMass Lowell and took a 67-64 loss.
“As a coach and a teacher, the only thing good that comes out of an experience like that is to learn from it,” Kennedy said.
Coleman (22 points) made a long 3-pointer to open overtime, and the Highlanders never trailed in the extra period. For most of the game, NJIT struggled at the line, making just four of its first 12 foul shots. Late in the second half and in OT, the Highlanders sank 11 of 16 free throws to help clinch the win.
“Free throws had been an Achilles’ heel for us early in the season,” Kennedy said, pointing to close losses to American and Wagner that were decided at the line. “Today, it did come back to bite us a little bit.”
Kjell de Graaf, a 6-foot-10 forward, was an offensive spark off the bench for NJIT, scoring a career-high 16 points and making 4 of 8 3-pointers. Kennedy thought de Graaf’s shooting was a key to overcoming the early 11-point deficit, and called it a breakout game for the big man.
Markwood said Maine’s improvement has to come at the defensive end. The Black Bears allowed NJIT to shoot 51.5% from the floor (34 for 66) and score 44 points in the paint.
“We’ve got to get much better on the defensive end in terms of our consistency to be able to get stops, because that wasn’t there tonight,” Markwood said. “We had 20 assists and 10 turnovers today. That should lead to a win if you’re doing the right things on the other side of the ball.”
Guard Gedi Juozapaitis scored 26 points for the Black Bears, including 6 for 11 from 3-point range. Guard Kellen Tynes added 24 points.
“It’s definitely frustrating, losing, but the beauty in it is it’s all things we can control and things I know we’re going to clean up,” Tynes said.
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