Sophomore guard Charlie O’Neill (Seymour, Conn./Wilbraham & Monson) and junior guard Josh Daniels (Everett, Wash./Maine Central Institute) combined to score 37 points to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to an 83-51 win over the University of New England Noreasters Tuesday night in a non-conference men’s basketball game at Hill Gymnasium on the Gorham campus.
The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Southern Maine to improve its record to 3-5 overall. The loss drops the University of New England to 1-7 overall.
O’Neill was 4-for-6 from three-point range en route to a career-high 19 points, while Daniels was 7-for-9 from the field to tally 18 points. Daniels added a team-high six assists to lead a balanced attack for Southern Maine as all 12 of USM’s players who entered the game scored at least two points. Junior forward Drew Coppenrath (Barnet, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds, while junior center Nick Gooding (Concord, Calif./Mount Diablo) scored eight points, snagged a team-high nine rebounds and blocked three shots.
UNE junior forward Isaac Stickney (Rumford, Maine/Mountain Valley) led the Noreasters with a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds on a 5-for-12 mark from the field. Junior guard John Marriott (Fairfax, Vt./Bellows Free Academy) and sophomore forward Eric Field (Stratton, Maine/Mount Abram) each chipped in with 12 points a piece while senior forward Tom Button (Lyndeborough, N.H./Wilton-Lyndeborough) grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Huskies took control of the game early in the first half on the heels of a 10-0 run to take a 15-3 lead with 13:07 remaining. O’Neill scored six of the Huskies points in the run, draining a three-pointer and then making a traditional three-point on an acrobatic lay-up after a full-court assist from Daniels.
Daniels finished with 16 points in the first half and O’Neill finished with 12 to give the Huskies a commanding 42-28 lead heading into the break as USM shot an outstanding 51.7 percent (15-for-29), including a 6-for-14 effort from three-point range in the opening stanza.
UNE cut into the Southern Maine lead to trail by seven, 44-37, with a 9-2 run led by four points from Stickney on a pair of jumpers, but the Huskies’ O’Neill responded nailing his fourth three of the game to push the USM advantage to 10 with 14:47 to play. Following the O’Neill three, USM scored seven unanswered points to lead by 17, 56-39, with 12:38 on the clock. Southern Maine’s Coppenrath scored five of his nine points in the run, while O’Neill added a jumper.
From there USM continued to click offensively, shooting 50 percent from the field over the final 12 minutes of the game to take the 83-51 lead while limiting UNE to just 5-for-21 (23 percent).
Southern Maine returns to action on Saturday (December 16) at 2 p.m. against University of Maine at Farmington at 2 p.m. The Noreasters play again in the New Year, hosting Middlebury College on Wednesday (January 3) at 4 p.m.