Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Senior Jose Nouchanthavong (Westbrook, Maine) scored a career-high 34 points, including eight three-pointers, to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 89-76 win over the Plymouth State University Panthers in a Little East Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Fifield Court.
With the win, Southern Maine improves to 15-9 overall and 9-4 in the Little East, and locks up the second-seed in the upcoming LEC tournament. USM will host a home playoff game on Tuesday, February 23 against an opponent to be determined. Plymouth State drops to 15-9 overall and 6-7 in the LEC.
Nouchanthavong was 11-for-17 from the floor and 8-for-10 from three-point range, adding seven assists. Junior Atencio Martin (Kittery, Maine/Traip Academy) had 20 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Zach Leal (York, Maine) added 13 points, five rebounds and two assists. The Huskies' recognized its five seniors prior to the game, including Nouchanthavong, Cole Libby (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle), Aaron Toman (Gardiner, Maine), Mitch Loeman (Freeport, Maine) and Ben Jackson (Houston, Texas/Bellaire).
Senior Uche Nwokei (Lynn, Mass./Lynn Classical) led PSU with a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double, including seven offensive rebounds. Junior Jack Preston (Nahsua, N.H./Nashua South) added 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while classmate Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, N.H./Phillips Exeter) tossed in 16 points.
PSU led through the opening six and a half minutes of the first half. PSU's Arsenault started the game hot and scored nine of the Panthers first 15 points to have his team up 15-12 over the Huskies. USM took its first lead of the game on back-to-back layups from Jackson and Martin, 16-15, with 12:37 to play in the half and the game settled into a back-and-forth contest.
With the score knotted at 28 following a jumper from PSU's Preston with 5:43 on the clock, USM edged the Panthers in scoring 11-7 in the final five minutes to head into the halftime break with a 39-35 lead. Nwokeji forced the fourth tie of the half, 35-35, with a lay up with 1:25 to play, but USM scored on its final two possessions on points in the paint from Leal and Martin.
USM won the first five minutes of the second half outscoring the Panthers 11-6 to take a 50-41 lead as Nouchanthavong drilled one of his eight three-pointers in the game with 14:52 to play. The Panthers never got closer than nine points the rest of the game, and the Huskies led by as many as 18 points, 79-61, with 5:20 on the clock following yet another three from Nouchanthavong.
Southern Maine concludes its regular-season schedule on the road at UMass Dartmouth on Saturday (3:00 p.m.). Plymouth State travels to Western Connecticut (3:00 p.m.).
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