Box Score LYNDON CENTER, VT. – The UMaine-Farmington men's basketball fell in the final minutes to conference opponent Lyndon State, 80-75, on Saturday afternoon at Stannard Gymnasium.
The Beavers never trailed in the opening period, holding a lead as large as nine on two separate occasions. Each time Lyndon made a run, UMF had an answer. At the half, Farmington held a 37-34 advantage.
UMF opened the final half with buckets on three straight possessions and Nick Hilton scored four straight points, giving the Beavers their largest lead of the afternoon at 13 points.
Lyndon's shooters began to catch fire. George Carle made a jumper and then Robert Alers sank a three-pointer to cut the lead back to single-digits with 13:48 remaining. The Hornets hit three more from long range and made a pair of free throws and suddenly the game was tied at 53 apiece.
For the next five minutes, both teams continued to battle and neither team held a lead larger than three points.
With four minutes left, Carle made two free throws that started a 7-2 run for the Hornets, giving them a 5-point lead. Logan Nichols hit a jumper for the Beavers to cut into the lead, but then Alers answered right back on the Hornets' next possession with a three-pointer.
Pet Sumner sank a three-pointer with 2:27 remaining and cut the Lyndon lead back to three, but UMF could not gain any more ground. The Hornets made 6-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final 1:09 to give Lyndon its first conference win of the season.
Sumner powered the Beavers with 18 points, three steals, and three assists. The senior only needs five more points to become UMF's 17th member of the 1000-career points club. Uriah Forest-Bulley scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, marking his third straight game with at least 15 points.
UMaine-Farmington starts a three-game nonconference stretch on Tuesday as the Beavers travel to Southern Maine on Tuesday at 7:30pm.
