Nor’easters get 20th win with rout of Gordon

BIDDEFORD — The University of New England Nor’easters opened the game with a 23-1 run and never looked back on their way to an 82-41 win over Gordon College in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) women’s basketball action Wednesday evening at the Harold Alfond Forum.

Winners of their last eight contests, the Nor’easters improved to 20-2 overall and 14-1 in conference play. Gordon dropped its 12th in a row to fall to 5-17 (1-14 CCC).

UNE, which earlier in the day made its debut at No. 5 in the NCAA Division III New England Regional Ranking, extended its streak of 20-win seasons to six. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, only Amherst College and Babson College have won more games than the Nor’easters, who are currently rated 24th in the most recent USA Today Sports Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

Sophomore guard Alanna Vose poured in 17 of her career-high 22 points before halftime. Vose drained five treys in the opening frame and finished with six for the game.

UNE also received a strong outing from first-year center Alicia Brown, who recorded her second double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Brown was 9-for-13 from the floor and added three blocked shots. Junior forward Kelly Coleman contributed 16 points for the Nor’easters, who made more than half of their field goal attempts (30 of 58) and nearly 50 percent of the three-point tries (8 of 17).

Senior forward Lauren Kranyak (Locust Grove, Va.) scored 14 points to lead Gordon, while junior guard Brooke Kratche added 12.

Brown helped Big Blue to its strong start, tallying eight of the Nor’easters’ initial 23 points to help them open up a 22-point bulge just 7:52 into the contest.

UNE would go on to shoot 58.1 percent (30 of 58) for the frame to take a 44-16 cushion into halftime.

The hosts would continue to cruise in the second half, building their largest margin of the contest (44 at 82-38 with 3:29 remaining.

Big Blue won the battle of the backboard (43-28) and turned the ball over just 10 times. UNE was also 14 of 16 (87.5 percent) at the free throw line.

Men’s Basketball

GORDON 66, UNE 59

BIDDEFORD — First-year Sam Johnson went 10-of-13 from the floor to finish with a season-high 22 points as Gordon College defeated the University of New England, 66-59, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men’s basketball action Wednesday evening at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Fighting Scots outscored their opponents by a 30-19 margin over the final 12 minutes to improve to 13-8 overall and 11-4 in CCC games.

UNE drops to 1-21 on the year, 1-14 in league play.

Johnson also pulled in 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. Senior Alex Carnes scored 10 and classmate Luke Hamilton added nine. Senior Park Thomas recorded eight points to go with six assists.

For the Nor’easters, sophomore guard William Abdul-Malak tossed in a season-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Classmate Russ Daly and first-year Brayden Morse both tallied 12 points. It was a personal-best for Daly, who also grabbed six rebounds and three steals.

Things were close early on, until an 8-0 spurt by Gordon made the difference nine (23-14) with three minutes to go in the 1st half. Johnson registered the initial six before a pair of free throws from Thomas.

After Abdul-Malak and Thomas traded three-pointers, Abdul-Malak canned another triple and Morse connected from long range on the next trip down to trim the margin to three (26-23).

Hamilton looked to post the last points of the frame with a trey inside the final eight seconds of the half, but Abdul-Malak raced the length of the court to lay one in just before the buzzer sounded.

The Fighting Scots led 33-28 with a few minutes gone in the 2nd period, before a 12-3 UNE run swung the advantage in favor of the hosts (40-36). Daly had baskets on three consecutive possessions during the latter stages of the stretch.

Gordon answered with 13 of the next 17 points ”“ from five different players ”“ to go up by five (49-44) with under eight on the clock. The Nor’easters could get no closer than four (58-54) the rest of the way.

HARTFORD 91, MAINE 79

ORONO (AP) — Taylor Dyson drained five 3-pointers and Evan Cooper added a pair to score 16 points apiece as Hartford topped Maine 91-79 on Wednesday night.

The Hawks (12-14, 6-5 America East) hit 8 of 11 3-pointers in the second half to blunt Maine’s comeback tries.

Garet Beale scored a career-high 18 points for the Black Bears (5-19, 3-9), 16 after halftime, including a pair of free throws that cut the gap to 10 points in the final 36 seconds. Hartford, however, shot 62 percent in the second half ”“ helped by the 72.7 percent from deep ”“ and led by as many as 23 as the Hawks climbed above .500 in conference.

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