Machias defeats CMCC for YSCC Championship

Play Video

AUBURN, Maine - The University of Maine at Machias men's basketball team completed their run of upsets Sunday afternoon as the fifth-seeded Clippers defeated second-seed Central Maine Community College 75-70, to win the Yankee Small College Conference Tournament Championship. 

Machias defeated fourth-ranked UMA Friday night and took out defending champions and first-seed College of Saint Joseph on Saturday to put themselves in a position to win the tournament. 

In a game that included five ties and nine lead changes, it looked for awhile as though the home-town Mustangs would take home the title. But the Clippers rallied from an 11 point deficit with 9:40 remaining in the second half, breaking out for a 10-0 run highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Dexter Moore (Ocoee, Fla.) to bring Machias to within one.

 CMCC's Carrington Miller (Bingham, Maine) hit a lay-up to put his team back up by three. The two teams battled back and forth with the Mustangs hanging on to the lead until a three-pointer from the Clippers' Ben Teer (Machias, Maine) tied the game at 64 all with 3:55 remaining. 

Travonne Thompson gave Machias the first lead since early in the half when he hit a pair of free-throws to give his team a one point advantage. The Clippers then went 5-7 from the free throw line down the stretch to hang on for the victory.

CMCC's Miller was named YSCC Tournament Outstanding Offensive Player for his efforts, turning in a double-double performance with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Teammate Pietro Badalassi (Canberra, Australia) scored a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds while Thomas Cedre (Auburn, Maine) scored 15 points.

Mathias was led by Teer who scored 18 points and took home YSCC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Jorge Milo (Miami, Fla.) netted 15 points along with seven rebounds and a pair of steals and received YSCC Tournament Outstanding Defensive Player honors. Thompson led the Clippers with 16 rebounds while teammate Ivory Sneed Jr. (Orlando, Fla.) was also in double-digits with 13 rebounds.

The Clippers advance to represent the YSCC next month at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships in Pennsylvania.