BANGOR, MAINE – Trailing by as much as 13 points in the second half, the Maine Black Bears fought back to take a late lead, but ultimately fell to Dartmouth 73-66 at the Cross Insurance Center on Friday night. Three Black Bears reached double figures in scoring, with Vernon Lowndes Jr. and Aaron Calixte each recording 13 points, while Andrew Fleming registered 10 points against the Big Green.
 
"We have to get better," said head coach Bob Walsh. "We were bad on offense and we were bad defensively. We were not consistent enough throughout the game. We battled to get back into it. Our kids will keep fighting." 
 
Lowndes Jr. shot an efficient 6-for-9 from the field, while recording a game-high seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 32 minutes played. Calixte added five assists and three steals to lead Maine.
 
Maine (2-8) shot 46.3 percent from the field, but allowed Dartmouth (3-4) to shoot 52 percent. The Big Green won the rebounding battle 32-24, but Maine owned the paint offensively with 36 points to Dartmouth's 24. Maine's bench poured in 22 points compared to Dartmouth's 16. The two New England-area schools battled back-and-forth in the 21^st meeting all-time, which featured eight ties and six lead changes.
 
The Big Green jumped to an early lead, firing off an 11-3 run to start the game. The Black Bears slowly clawed back, going on a 15-7 run to tie the contest at 18-18 after Fleming laid-in two points with 8:40 left in the first half. Maine took its first lead moments later, off of a Danny Evans layup.
 
12 seconds into his first game action since Boston College on Nov. 10, Isaiah White drained his first 3-point bucket as a Black Bear to give Maine a five-point lead with 6:30 left. Dartmouth came on strong to finish the half on a 14-4 run to take a 32-27 lead into the break.
 
Following the halftime intermission, the Big Green picked up where they left off, extending their lead to 13 points at 40-27 with 17 minutes left in the second half. The Black Bears fought back from the high-deficit once again, going on a 25-10 run during the next seven minutes to retake a 52-50 lead over Dartmouth. The run included all seven of Dusan Majstorovic's points, six from Lowndes Jr., four from Fleming and Dennis Ashley, along with three points from Ilija Stojiljkovic.
 
Dartmouth retook the lead the lead at 55-52 with 6:51 remaining, and the Big Green would not trail for the rest of the contest despite two tied scores at 55-55 and 63-63. With 1:47 remaining, Dartmouth put the game away on an 8-0 run to take a 71-63 with 17 seconds left. Ilker Er drained a three pointer with 10 seconds left, but Maine ran out of time, falling 73-66.

Behind the charity stripe, Maine shot a perfect 10-for-10, led by 5 free throws from Aaron Calixte. The redshirt-junior has now converted 24 consecutive free throw opportunities, spanning parts of the last five games (5-5 against Dartmouth, UMPI 0-0, Fordham 7-7, Georgetown 4-4, and Quinnipiac 8-9) Calixte needs just eight more free throws made to break Skip Chappelle's record of 32 straight made in the 1960-61 season.
 
Dartmouth entered the game ranked fourth in the country in fewest turnovers in the nation, as Maine forced 20 turnovers, tying a season-high with 12 steals against the Big Green. The Black Bears capitalized on those turnovers, with 24 points coming directly off turnovers.
 
The Big Green were led by Taylor Johnson, who tallied 29 points, while Chris Knight and Brendan Barry tallied 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
UMaine rounds out its season-long three game home stand on Sunday afternoon, when the Black Bears take on Maine system school, Maine Machias at 2:00 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center. Star Wars Day is the theme for the Sunday matinee game. Tickets are available by visiting the Cross Insurance Center box office, by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at TicketMaster.com.
 
-UMaine-