Bengals Open USCAA Tournament with Win
March 2, 2018 • Uniontown, Pennsylvania

Uniontown, Pennsylvania—The University of Maine at Fort Kent men’s basketball defeated a familiar foe, Dean College of Massachusetts, 70-63, in the first round of the USCAA National Championships.

The Bengals defense was stifling in the first half as they held their opponents to just 8-29 shooting, including 1-11 from long range. Dean scored just four points for the first seven minutes of the game and built a 15-4 lead. The Bulldogs would cut the lead to 21-15 with 7:40 to go, on a Dayvon Russel three point basket but UMFK would then stretch the lead to 37-21 on a Johnathon Caldwell three. Caldwell hit all three long range baskets for a game high 15 in the first half.

Dean would not go away, cutting the lead down to just four, 45-41, before UMFK answered with a 14-5 run, to extend the lead to 13 with 9:27 to play. The Bengals would go 9-12 from the foul line in the second half to close the game.

USCAA Player of the Year Anthony Knight had 16 of his 24 in the second half on 6-7 shooting, while playing all 40 minutes. Caldwell finished with 22, while Troy Williams had 13. Benson Arogbo and Tom Enerva each finished with nine rebounds.

UMFK shut down Dean’s two stars and held them to a combined 10-31, including 3-12 from distance. Russell finished with 20, but Jordan Booker, who averaged 18.3 per game was held to just nine.

UMFK moves on the play the semifinals on Thursday against Oakwood University of Alabama at 10:00 p.m.