Flowers leads Hartford to 3rd straight, beats Maine 55-49

ORONO, Maine (AP) — Freshman Moses Flowers scored 14 of his 15 points during a breakaway run late in the second half as Hartford defeated Maine 55-49 on Saturday in the Black Bears’ historic ‘Pit’ inside Memorial Gymnasium.

Playing a regular-season conference game in The Pit for the first time in six years (Jan. 18, 2014), Maine jumped out to a quick lead only to see Hartford (13-10, 6-2 America East) score the final 13 points to go up 25-18 at the half.

Maine (6-16, 2-6) came back to tie 33-33 with 9:41 remaining but Flowers scored 10 straight points, igniting a 22-12 run for the Hawks, who have won three in a row. Malik Ellison added 13 points and two steaks for Hartford and Miroslav Stafl added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Hartford scored 15 points off 15 Maine turnovers while committing a season-low nine turnovers.

Sergio El Darwich led the Black Bears with 15 points. Maine’s top scorer Andrew Fleming (15 ppg) scored six on 3-of-11 shooting.

Hartford plays Maryland-Baltimore County on the road on Wednesday. Maine plays Vermont on the road on Wednesday.