FARMINGTON, Maine – UMaine-Farmington shot 57 percent from the field in the second half to break open a one-possession game at the intermission and cruise to a 72-59 win over UMaine-Machias, in Friday's second game of the 2012 Charlie Ryan Classic men's basketball tournament at Dearborn Gym. 

UMaine-Machias (0-3) scored on its first possession of the second half to knot the game at 31-31. UMaine-Farmington's Ben Johnson (Manchester, Maine/Maranacook) answered with back-to-back buckets, jump-starting a 19-2 run for the Beavers that left UMF with a 50-33 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining.

The Clippers briefly cut the margin to single digits with two minutes to play following a jumper by UMM's A.C. Ford (Glendale, Ariz.), but UMaine-Farmington went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line down the stretch to keep UMaine-Machias at bay.

UMaine-Farmington (1-0) outrebounded Machias 40-26, including a 15-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The Beavers also hounded UMM into making 24 turnovers, yielding 27 points for UMaine-Farmington.

Johnson led all scorers with a game-high 25 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field, while Garrett Clemmer (Windham, Maine/Windham) tallied 17 points. Yusuf Iman (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) tallied 14 points, and matched Johnson with a  team-leading seven rebounds. 

Clippers guard Elias Gutierrez (Sarasota, Fla.) charted 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor with a 3-of-4 mark from 3-point range, while Ford finished the night with 19 points.

The Charlie Ryan Classic continues on Saturday afternoon at Thomas College's Mahaney Gym, with the Beavers playing the University of New England at 1:00 p.m., while Thomas will host UMaine-Machias at 3:00 p.m.

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