Box Score PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Senior guard Alex Kee (Bath, Maine/Morse) scored a game-high 14 points to lead four players in double-figures as the University of Southern Maine Huskies men's basketball team cruised to a season-opening 70-47 win over the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners in the second game of the Star City Classic hosted by the University of Maine Presque Isle Saturday afternoon in Presque Isle, Maine.
Playing in its first game of the season, USM starts its 2012-13 campaign at 1-0. Maine Maritime falls to 0-2.
Kee was 5-for-11 from the field as the Huskies shot a solid 49.1 percent from the field (26-for-53). Junior guard Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) added 13 points and a game-high seven rebounds, while junior forward James Odneal (Pontiac, Mich./Bottineau) and senior guard Mike Poulin (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) each had 10 points. Poulin added six rebounds.
Maine Maritime Academy senior Paul Campbell (Camden, Maine) was the only Mariner in double figures with 10 points. Sophomore guard Tyler Chaisson (Dixfield, Maine) added eight points.
After a closely contested first half, Southern Maine took a narrow 30-27 lead into the halftime break. Southern Maine trailed the Mariners for the majority of the first half and did not gain its first lead of the game until a jumper from junior guard Brandon Tomah (Princeton, Maine/Calais) with 5:52 remaining in the half. Ahead 21-19 following Tomah's jumper, both teams battled back and forth before the Huskies scored the final four points of the half on a jumper from Sullivan on a feed from Tomah and a jumper from Kee.
In the second half, USM slowly grew its lead and led the Mariners by 10, 45-35, following a Poulin jumper at the 14:35 mark, before breaking open the game with an 18-6 run to take a commanding 63-41 lead with 6:28 to play. Five different players scored in the run for USM, led by four points from Kee and sophomore Tanner Storey (Cumberland, Maine/Greely).
From there USM cruised to the win, closing the game by outscoring MMA 7-4 down the stretch.
Southern Maine faces UMaine Presque Isle on Sunday (2:00 p.m.).
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