Pullen, Chesley lead UMA men to first win of the season
AUGUSTA, Maine – The UMA men’s basketball team (1-4, 1-2 YSCC), playing their third game within a span of 24 hours, held off Paul Smith College (2-4, 2-2 YSCC) Saturday night to pick up their first win of the young season 88-76.
November 17, 2012
AUGUSTA, Maine – The UMA men's basketball team (1-4, 1-2 YSCC), playing their third game within a span of 24 hours, held off Paul Smith College (2-4, 2-2 YSCC) Saturday night to pick up their first win of the young season 88-76.
The Moose competed Friday night and Saturday afternoon in the Bates tip-off tournament, dropping a close game to Fisher College earlier in the day. In the evening game, UMA opened the scoring with 12 unanswered points, including seven from Andrew Pullen (Augusta, Maine) before Paul Smith's Devon Carr nailed a three pointer at the 17:00 minute mark.
Head coach Jim Ford's team shot a red-hot 61 percent from the floor in the first half, and led by as many as 21 points before the Bobcats began to claw their way back into the game, closing the deficit to 11 points heading into the half.
The Paul Smith defense kicked it into high gear to start the second half, forcing eight turnovers in the first five minutes to reduce the Moose lead to three points, but that was as close as they would get. The Bobcats capitalized on UMA turnovers all game long, scoring 39 points on their takeaways from the Moose.
UMA scored 25 second chance points on the night and were 20-26 from the free throw line to help preserve the win.
Three UMA players recorded double-double performances on the night, highlighted by 27 points from Pullen, who also grabbed 11 boards. Keith Chesley (Clinton, Maine) shot 7-11 from the floor and 7-8 from the line for a season-high 21 points while kicking in 10 rebounds. Walker Cooper (Chelsea, Maine) kicked in 14 points and ten rebounds. Darrel Stephen (Lincoln, Neb.) and Emmitt Faulkner (Clinton, Maine) both kicked in nine points.
Shiva Senthil (Clifton Park, N.Y.) was one of three players in double-digits for Paul Smith, matching Pullen with a game-high 27 points, while Devon Carr (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored 20 points and Adam Klock (Sprakers, N.Y.) scored 13.
The Moose return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on Yankee Small College Conference rival the College of St. Joseph's (Vermont). If you can't catch the game at the Civic Center, please check out the livestream at:
https://new.livestream.com/accounts/546422/events/1674536.