Danes' postseason chances grow slimmer with road loss to Maine

ORONO, Maine (NEWS10) -- The University at Albany men's basketball team injected some much-needed hope into its' late-season playoff push with Wednesday's win against UMBC. But the Great Danes suffered a setback at the University of Maine Saturday night; they were unable to mount a late comeback on the road, falling to the Black Bears by a score of 74-72.

Key Stat Lines

• Da'Kquan Davis led all scorers with 26 points, going 10-17 from the field and 6-10 from deep. He also led the team with two steals.
• Jonathan Beagle finished with a double-double for the second game in a row. The young big produced 18 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists.
• Gerald Drumgoole Jr. scored 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. He went a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe.
• Trey Hutcheson finished with nine points, hitting three long balls on four attempts.
• UAlbany shot 52.0% (26-50) from the field and went 11-23 from three-point range. Maine shot 49.0% (25-51) from the field and went 5-16 from deep.
• Maine won the rebounding war, 28-26.

How it Happened:

• Maine got out to the early lead, taking a slim 9-8 advantage over the first five minutes of play. Jonathan Beagle scored six of UAlbany's first eight points.  
• The lead would extend to four points, 16-12, by the midway point of the first half. Da'Kquan Davis scored his first points of the day with a layup before Gerald Drumgoole Jr. notched his second bucket of the afternoon with a layup of his own.
• Beagle, Davis, and Drumgoole Jr. would power the Great Danes over the next four minutes with an 11-4 run, taking a 23-20 lead in the late stages of the first half.
• Maine would hold UAlbany to just three points over the final six minutes of the first half. The Black Bears would go on to score 16 points, going to the locker room up 36-26.
• UAlbany shot 50.0% (11-22) from the field and went 4-9 from three in the first half. Maine shot 42.3% (11-26) from the field and went 4-8 from deep.
• Maine would expand the lead to 14 points to start the second half following a 10-6 run.
• The score would remain relatively similar over the next five minutes with the Black Bears pushing the advantage to 16 points by the midway point. Marcus Jackson and Malik Edmead scored their first points of the game, both hitting layups with Edmead drawing an and-one.
• Following the midway point, UAlbany would use an 8-0 run to close the gap to eight points, 55-47. Drumgoole Jr. and Beagle each went 2-2 from the charity stripe before Davis hit back-to-back jumpers.
• Davis would go on to score 14 of UAlbany's final 16 points, hitting four three-pointers along the way.
• UAlbany shot 53.6% (15-28) from the field and went 7-14 from three in the second half. Maine shot 56.0% (14-25) from the field and went just 1-8 from three.

Next: The Great Danes don't play again until next Saturday, Feb. 25, in a potentially pivotal home matchup against NJIT. They trail the Highlanders by two-and-a-half games for the eighth spot in the America East - only the top eight teams in the conference qualify for the America East Tournament. The Danes only have two games remaining on their regular season schedule, while NJIT has three; if the Highlanders defeat Bryant University Wednesday, UAlbany will be eliminated from playoff contention.