PRESQUE ISLE, ME
The Owls kicked off their senior day by recognizing their five senior athletes, and two senior student assistants. Assistants Joe Michaud and Dany Harris, players Logan Migliori, Brice Lawrence, Charlie Mellick, Myles Jones, and Gilbert Jean Mendez.
It was clear from the very start that UMPI was going to have a fun day as they made shots right off the jump. The Owls ran away with a 111-73 victory—a season high point total, and brings them to a tie for the most regular season wins in UMPI Men's Basketball history with 18. They join the 1994-95 squad who eventually finished 19-7 after postseason play.
How it Happened:
The game started off fairly even as teams traded buckets until it was 12-11 UMPI with 14:17 to go in the half. That's when UMPI started to open the game up. They went on a 19-2 run to take a 33-13 stranglehold on the game as they made big play after big play. Then in the final six minutes a barrage of scoring gave UMPI a 34-point lead at halftime: 65-31. They shot a staggering 66.7% from the field going 26-39 in that first half.
In the second half, it was more of the same. The Moose did start the half on a 5-1 run, but the Owls responded with a 10-0 run. Threes were raining down from everybody in this game. The Owls set what is believed to be a program record with 21 three-pointers as a team, and they shared the wealth on this as well. Nine different players made at least one three-pointer. UMPI quite simply shot the lights out as they finished 52% from the field, and 46% from three. Nearly half of their field goal makes, and over half of their field goal attempts came from three-point range as they shot 21-45 from bonus distance.
Top Performers:
It is hard to know where to begin because of how many different players had their moment on this day. But it was the senior day performance of Logan Migliori that stands out. Migliori had a career high 18 points throughout his 23 minutes played. 15 of them came in the first half. He buried four threes and shot 7-14 from the field. The highlight of his day would be his three-pointer to beat the buzzer to end the first half. Gilbert Jean Mendez also had an awesome senior day, matching Migliori's point total albeit a little quieter—with 18, as well as four threes. Jean Mendez also came up one assist shy of a double-double. As coach Kane said during senior recognitions, Jean Mendez will go down as one of the best Owls to ever put on the uniform.
Brice Lawrence had another efficient day with 13 points scored throughout his 17 minutes on the floor. He knocked down a pair of threes, shooting 5-7 from the field. James Yamashita went 4-6 from beyond the arc and finished with 12 points in 11 minutes while Akhe McMichael was on somewhat of a load management day playing just 13 minutes but still found a way to reach double figures with 11 going 4-5 from the field.
As you can tell, there were so many heroes on the day. Charlie Mellick had three threes, finishing with nine, Saquan Carswell had eight points as well as eight rebounds. Myles Jones had seven points. To see a complete list of the 13 scorers for UMPI you can view the box score here. Their 111 points scored is a single game high for anyone in the North Atlantic Conference this season as they lead in points per game.
Next Up:
The Owls improve to 18-5 overall and will move on to finish their season with two big conference games. They will hit the road to take on Maine Maritime Academy, and Thomas College next weekend. Friday the 14th the Owls will be in Castine for a 7:30 p.m. start, while Saturday the 15th, they will wrap up their regular season campaign with a matchup in Waterville at Thomas College at 3:00 p.m.
