Men’s basketball season ends with loss to Machias

AUBURN, Maine - One of the most successful seasons in the recent history of UMA men's basketball came to an end Friday night as the fourth-seeded Moose fell to number five seed University of Maine at Machias 66-56 in the first round of the Yankee Small College Conference Elite Eight Tournament hosted by Central Maine Community College. 

UMA got off to an incredibly hot start for the game, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first five minutes of play before Machias guard Ben Teer (Machias, Maine) put his team on the board with a three-pointer, the start of a 13-2 run that gave the Clippers their first lead of the game. Machias pulled away over the next few minutes, increasing the advantage to nine points with five minutes remaining before half-time.  

UMA closed the gap in the final two minutes of the half with six unanswered points. The Moose trailed by as few as eight points with less than ten minutes to go in regulation, but the Clippers had an answer for each run UMA put together. 

YSCC Player of the Year Brandon Rogers (Turlock, Calif.) led the Moose with 20 points and a game-high 18 rebounds on the night, while teammate Keith Chesley (Clinton, Maine) was also in double-digits with 19 points and eight rebounds. The pair of seniors leave UMA having claimed many of the offensive school records, including rebounds in a season (Rogers), points in a season (Chesley), points in a career (Chesley), and rebounds in a game (Rogers. 

Jorge Milo (Miami, Fla.) was the only other Clipper in double digits with 17 points Travonne Thompson led UMM in rebounds with 17. 

Neither team shot over 35% from the field, but Machias carried the edge from the floor, shooting 33.8% to UMA's 28.2%. The Clippers took advantage of second chances, scoring 18 second chance points and scoring 21 points off of turnovers while the Moose scored 18 points off of UMM miscues.