PSU won for the eighth straight outing, improving to 10-3 overall, while UMF had its two-game win streak stopped and fell to 8-3. The Panthers shot a blistering 56.7 percent for the game, including 52.8 percent in the dominating first half, and 62.5 percent after the break.
Senior Nick Pelotte (Bingham, Maine) led PSU in scoring, knocking down 22 points (12 in the first half) in 21 minutes while adding six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Sophomore Andreas Pope (Brooklyn, N.Y.) contributed 14 points and five boards (in just 20 minutes). Senior Jay Boyle (Woburn, Mass.) connected on 4-of-6 from three-point range to finish with a season-high 12 points off the Panther bench, and senior Matt Budrow (Round Pond, Maine) chipped in with 10 points, six boards and three blocked shots in 14 minutes.
Junior Travis Magnusson (Thomaston, Maine) led the visitors with 16 points, and senior Steve Ginn (Windham, Maine) finished with 11. PSU held the Beavers to a 38.4 percent shooting clip, including 31.6 percent in the first half.
Pope scored eight of PSU’s first 10 points in less than five minutes, Pelotte added a pair of three-pointers and a couple of lay-ups, and before the game was eight minutes old, the Panthers were up by 22. PSU maintained a 20-point-plus margin the rest of the half, including a 30-point bulge (51-21) with a minute remaining before the break. UMF never got closer than 22 points the rest of the way as 15 PSU players entered the game and 13 got into the scoring column.
PSU increased it scoring average, which ranks 16th in the nation, to 88.6 points per game, and upped its team field goal percentage, which ranks 22nd in the nation, to 50.1 percent.
The Panthers are right back in action Saturday with an LEC home affair against Western Connecticut (3:00 p.m.). UMF returns home to host Saint Joseph’s College Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
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