SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University men's basketball team fell to UMaine-Farmington on Saturday afternoon at Springfield College, in day two of the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic hosted by the Pride, falling to the Beavers, 88-63.
Mac Annus (Belmont, Mass.) scored 17 points, shooting 6-11 from the floor, while also pulling down five rebounds.
Sean Gogolin (Winchester, Mass.) knocked down three shots, tallying 10 points, and
Nate Lopes (Scituate, Mass.) and
Ty Higgins (New Marlborough, Mass.) both added eight points apiece.
After the Beavers scored eight straight points to start the contest,
Will MacDonald (York, Maine) knocked down a jumper to put the Hawks on the board. UMaine-Farmington expanded their lead to as many as 14, before Annus knocked down three-point jumpers on three straight trips for the Hawks.
The Beavers expanded the lead back to 12 points with 4:53 remaining in the opening half, before Lopes and Higgins scored on back-to-back trips down the floor shrinking the lead to seven. A layup by Terion Moss gave the Beavers a 31-22 advantage with 3:52 remaining, but Higgins and Annus knocked down threes on back-to-back trips down the floor for the Hawks. After Jack Kane expanded the UMaine-Farmington lead to seven, Higgins closed out scoring in the half with a layup, with the Hawks trailing 35-30 at the half.
In the second half, Moss got the Beavers offense going, scoring the first two points of the six points UMaine-Farmington scored to open the half. The Beavers extended their lead to 18 points with 12:10 remaining in regulation, before
Philip Sughrue (Winchester, Mass.) knocked down a three pointer, and Gogolin followed with a dunk of his own.
The Hawks cut the Beaver advantage to as low as 12 points, but UMaine-Farmington held on for an 88-63 win.
At the conclusion of the event Lopes was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Roger Williams (6-3, 3-0 CCC) will return to conference play on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7:30 pm at the University of New England. They will then host Salve Regina in their first home contest of 2023, on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 pm in the Campus Rec Center.
