Mustangs Beaten by Bengals in Final Non-Conference Game
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Central Maine CC (15-11) | 35 | 41 | 76 |
|
Me.-Fort Kent (10-12) | 50 | 37 | 87 |
Fort Kent, ME – CMCC Men's Basketball wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule with an 87-76 loss to UMaine Fort Kent on the road Saturday afternoon. The Mustangs trailed by 15 points at halftime, before getting to within eight in the second half. Ultimately, it wasn't enough to find a way past their USCAA D1 opponents.
Khaden Moore continued his impressive freshman campaign with a game-high 22 points while Will Duke and Keiontay Marsh also reached double figures with 11 points apiece. Maksim Vukcevic equaled Moore's effort with 22 points of his own for UMFK while Aiden Grady finished with 20 behind a 9-for-11 shooting performance.
After trading buckets in the opening five minutes, the hosts pulled away to a 27-14 lead with 11:21 remaining in the first half. Marsh pulled the Mustangs back to within nine with back-to-back layups, but Central Maine could not keep pace with Fort Kent's outside shooting. The Bengals were 10-for-25 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes to go back to the locker room with a 50-35 lead.
UMFK's three-point shooting cooled off in the second half (4-for-16) but CMCC struggled to get second-chance opportunities, being outrebounded 19-10 while still managing to shoot an impressive 51.7% from the floor. An Alexandre Brigitte jumper cut the deficit to 65-57 with still 12 minutes to play, but that was as close as the comeback effort would get.
The defeat marked the first time since November 3rd that the Mustangs suffered back-to-back losses. Head coach Dave Gonyea's squad wraps up the non-conference portion of their schedule having gone 4-8 against teams outside of the YSCC. Central Maine sits at 15-11 overall and 11-3 in conference play heading into the final week before the postseason.
Next up, CMCC plays archrival SMCC at home on Wednesday, February 12th. The Mustangs pulled out a dramatic buzzer-beating victory on the road against the Seawolves and look to complete a season sweep for the first time since 2018. Tip-off at Kirk Hall is slated for 8:00 pm.