PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior guard Andrew Dean (Gorham, Maine) scored a game-high 24 points Thursday evening as the University of Maine Farmington earned a victory in its first game of 2011, defeating Plymouth State University, 64-52, in a non-conference men's basketball contest at Foley Gymnasium.
The Beavers trailed by a point at halftime but outscored the home team 39-26 in the second half to pull out the victory. Dean made 8-of-12 shots from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, helping UMF (4-5) to its third win in a row. Freshman Pet Summer (Cramerton, N.C.) added 18 points off the bench for the winners.
Senior Ian Dempsey (Andover, Mass.) topped the Panthers with 11 points, and classmate Tom Dowd (Portsmouth, N.H.) finished with 10 points as the only PSU players to score in double figures. PSU shot just 37 percent from the floor (20-of-54), 31 percent from three-point land, and 62 percent from the free throw line. The Panthers dropped their third in a row to slip to 5-6 overall.
PSU led much of the first half of play, taking a seven-point advantage with 11 minutes on the clock for its largest lead. It was a six-point Panther bulge (24-18) after junior Jesse Sabolis (Stoughton, Mass.) drained a three-pointer with less than three minutes left in the half, but UMF pulled to within a point, 26-25, at the intermission.
The teams traded baskets the first eight minutes of the second half, and the game was tied at 36-all with 12 minutes to go. The Beavers got hot and went on a 21-6 run over the next 10 minutes, putting the game away with a 15-point margin (57-42) with a minute and a half to play. Dempsey and senior Matt Feehan (Nashua, N.H.) connected on three-pointers for PSU's only points in that span; while Summer scored nine points in the UMF rally and senior EWric Taylor (Oakland, Maine) added six.
Plymouth State returns to Little East Conference action Saturday, travelling to Western Connecticut State University for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off. UMF returns home to host Bowdoin on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
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