BIDDEFORD, Maine -- With both offenses humming just above 50 percent shooting efficiency, the University of New England limited the University of Maine-Farmington to just two free throws in its last six possessions to chalk up a 99-96 men's basketball victory on Wednesday night (Nov. 15) at Coach Beaudry's Court inside the Harold Alfond Forum.

After Dylan Griffin gave the Beavers a 94-92 edge with 3:12 remaining, Adrian Torres immediately answered for the hosts. A UMF turnover and missed shots both ways left the ball in the hands of UNE, and Jayden Thornton was fouled on an attempt from behind the arc. He made all three free throws to put the Nor'easters up, 97-94, with 2:12 left.

A steal by Torres led to a pair at the charity stripe from Kyle Lombardi at the 1:41 mark (99-94). Three trips later, Zachary Mickle worked his way to the line to add a couple to the UMF total, trimming the deficit to three points with 0:43 on the clock. A UNE miss left the door open for the visitors to tie with 20 ticks remaining, but suffocating defensive pressure from Adam Lux forced a step-back try from deep that sailed wide as the buzzer sounded [Watch].

The positive result is the third straight for the Nor'easters (3-1), who have already exceeded their 2022-23 win total and next entertain the University of Maine-Augusta on Saturday (1 p.m.). The Beavers fell for the first time in four outings (3-1).

For the second consecutive game, Torres established a new career-best with 25 points, and added seven assists along with six steals. Thornton canned four 1st-half triples and supplied 24 points. Lux notched 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the 2nd half alone, and wound up with 19 points to go with nine boards. Lombardi chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, and Dylan Crowley tossed in another 10 points.

While UNE was out-rebounded by a 42-29 margin, the Nor'easters had less than half the turnovers (7 to 16), which led to sizable scoring advantages in points off turnovers (25-10) and fastbreak points (13-4).

On the UMaine Farmington side, Griffin paced six Beavers in double figures with 20 points. He made all four of his looks from downtown and only missed twice otherwise, while collecting eight rebounds, eight assists, and two blocks. Will Harriman and Jason Reynolds went for 14 and 13 points, respectively, with 21 of those prior to halftime. Jordan Anthony and Brock Flagg registered 14 and 12 points, respectively, with 22 of those following intermission. Reynolds had the lone double-double of the contest, snagging a game-high 10 rebounds.

Through eight minutes of action, neither squad was on track to eclipse 80 points. But then three-pointers started to fall all around, and both sides hit seven from long distance during the rest of the opening period.

Other than UNE pulling even at 15-all, the Beavers held a cushion for more than 19 minutes. A burst of seven points in less than 50 seconds from Reynolds stretched the UMF lead to its peak (11) at 42-31 with 5:17 to go before halftime. One of Thornton's treys brought the margin right back into single digits, though, and sparked what ultimately could go down as a 28-9 Nor'easter run spanning into the 2nd frame [Watch 34&37, Watch 39&42, Watch 48]. A step-back jumper from Torres closed out the initial 20 minutes with the hosts on top, 50-49 [Watch].

Lux accounted for nine of UNE's first 11 following the break to extend the gap to 61-53 [Watch], however UMaine Farmington surged back to draw level at 70-70 (11:56). While, out of a timeout, a dunk from Kha Cao Ra James slowed the Beaver momentum [Watch], the teams were locked into exchanging blows the rest of the way. It was 79-77 in favor of the visitors when Lux drilled back-to-back three-pointers [Watch 83], and consecutive hoops from Torres made it 89-85 UNE with 4:51 left [Watch]. Griffin (three-pointer) and Flagg (three-point play) countered for UMF, and Flagg sank another freebie for a 92-89 edge, only to see Crowley tie things back up with a three-point play of his own [Watch].