PRESQUE ISLE, ME
The University of Maine at Presque Isle Men's Basketball Team has been gaining more and more attention this calendar year, and now they have reached the ultimate stage for the first time in school history. They will take on top ranked University of Maine at Farmington (21-5, 17-1), in Farmington, on Saturday at 1pm.
This Season:
The Owls came into the year with lofty expectations, after last year's squad set a program record for wins, reaching 20 for the first time in program history. UMPI had their 2024-25 campaign end in utter heartbreak at the hands of the UMF Beavers in the first round of the NAC playoffs. With their record setting year, and bringing back a core of key contributors, UMPI ranked second in the preseason coaches' poll. But to say it would be easy to run it back would be a bold-faced lie.
The Owls struggled out the gate, losing multiple close games while dealing with multiple injuries. UMPI used several different starting lineups, as many different guys had to play bigger roles and play big minutes. The Owls limped to a 2-9 overall first semester record and 1-4 in conference. After losing their second semester opener by two-points at home, they fell to a rock bottom 2-10 overall record.
The next day however, UMPI was able to gut out a close game for the first time on the year, winning by two points. One win turned into a weekend sweep in Vermont, followed by another sweep at home vs. Lesley and Thomas. The Owls' streak extended to six games after a wacky win over Maine Maritime on the 23rd. Finally, the next day, they fell to UMF ending the streak, but the Owls had gotten to 8-11 overall and were in a much better spot going into the final few weeks.
After a loss on the following Saturday to Husson, UMPI got back in the win conference win column with a rout at Delhi on February 6th. At 8-7 in conference, UMPI was still fighting for a top four seed and a home playoff game. Those hopes were on life-support when they trailed by 15 points at halftime at SUNY Cobleskill the next day. With a loss, they would have been eliminated from the home playoff game sweepstakes. But instead, the Owls rallied and came back to win a dramatic game on the road 74-69, to get to 9-7 in league play.
In the final weekend of the regular season, UMPI had some huge performances from their 1-2 punch duo of Akhe McMichael and Doug McCalla and swept the weekend to finish at 11-7 in NAC play and 13-12 overall. All the while, the Owls got some help from other NAC teams such as Thomas and Farmington, which catapulted them into the three seed and a secure home playoff game.
On February 19th, UMPI hosted its first home postseason game since 2022, and closed out a hard fought game over the sixth seeded Thomas Terriers to advance to the NAC semifinals at Husson on Sunday the 22nd.
In a game that will go down as one of the best and most satisfying UMPI wins of all time, the Owls dodged a crazy final minute comeback by Husson to force Overtime. Once there, the Owls postseason heartbreak on the same floor a year ago, was redeemed — at least partially — as they closed out a wild 78-74 victory over the Husson Eagles who swept UMPI in the regular season. In doing so, they punched their ticket to their first ever North Atlantic Conference Championship game, setting the stage for this Saturday's clash.
Farmington:
The Beavers have enjoyed one of their best seasons in program history and currently sit just one win behind the program record for wins of 22 set back in 2019-20. At 21-5 overall, they also set a North Atlantic Conference record for wins in a season, going 17-1. This is, of course, due somewhat to the new format of extra conference games going from last year's slate of 13 to this year's schedule of 18 NAC games. Still, UMF dominated their league schedule going 17-1, with their only loss coming in a shocking upset by SUNY Delhi back on January 16th. They've also survived some close scares, winning by one point, 99-98 in overtime over 6th seeded Thomas College back in December, an 81-80 last-second win over Husson on January 23rd, and most recently a buzzer-beater win over Last place, and winless VTSU-Johnson, 66-64 on February 6th. The Beavers do what good teams do: they find a way to win, even on days when they're not at their best. UMF leads the conference in a plethora of categories:
Margin of Victory: +12.1
Opponent Field Goal Percentage: 42%
Three-Point Percentage: 36.6%
Overall Rebounds: 43.1 per game
Overall Opponent Rebounds: 34.7 per game
Defensive Rebounds: 30.1 per game
Zack McLaughlin, one of the favorites for NAC player of the year, leads the Beavers in scoring at 26.1 points per game. That stellar clip is second and the conference, and second in all of NCAA Division III. Jason Reynolds is another difference maker for UMF, averaging 17.2 points (7th) and 15.3 Rebounds (1st) per game. He is the nation's leader in rebounds and won NAC Defensive player of the week on nine separate occasions this year.
The Matchup:
UMF had UMPI's number in the regular season and put up a statement in their first matchup back on December 12. The Beavers scored the first 16 points of the game and never looked back, winning 87-49 for the most lopsided victory in the series since 2005. But those were the Owls of the first semester, it would be a much different story the second time around. In their next meeting up in Presque Isle, the Owls stayed right with Farmington for the whole first half, but the Beavers heated up and the Owls cooled down considerably in the second half, eventually falling by a score of 77-62 as UMF swept the season series and made it three wins in a row over UMPI. Last year, the Owls swept the season series before falling in the playoffs. Each of the last five years, these teams have met up for a third time in the playoffs, with the rubber match always seeming to go Farmington's way in the end.
The Storylines:
There are many different storylines going into this NAC Championship game. The biggest of which is that it is UMPI's first time ever being in this game. Adding on to that is their amazing second-semester turnaround in which they've gone 13-3, winning 13 of their last 15 contests. The euphoric Husson win last weekend adds even more of a destiny feel to this UMPI season.
Another very relevant storyline that the Owls won't be boasting however, is that Farmington has ended UMPI's season each of the last five postseasons dating back to 2019-20. The last two have been soul-crushing for UMPI, as the Beavers have beaten the Owls by a combined three points the last two years in the playoffs. Before that, in 2022-23, UMF took down UMPI at Dearborn Gymnasium in Farmington 86-74 in the NAC East final, the day after UMPI beat Husson 97-87 behind 39 Griffin Guerrette points. That tortured UMPI playoff history with UMF is certainly something to keep in mind, considering the Owls exorcised some ghosts last weekend when they won a close game on the Husson floor which was the scene of the crime for their last two postseason losses.
For UMF, they have been here before, but also have some heartache in the big game, dropping their last three appearances to western division teams, most recently in 2022-23 when SUNY Delhi upset them 83-77 on their own floor. If Farmington were to win, it would be their first NAC Championship since 2010—when current UMPI Head Coach Dan Kane, was the sixth man off the bench for the Beavers. Kane was a key contributor to that 2010 team that actually went on to win their first round game in the NCAA tournament, 64-63 over Bridgewater State. UMF is hoping their championship game woes will end tomorrow as since that 2010 team, they've lost thrice: 2014 to Husson 2020 to SUNY Canton and 2023 to SUNY Delhi.
The History:
UMPI has been a part of the North Atlantic Conference since the 2018-19 season and were a part of the NCAA in an independent or half capacity since 2004-05. Before that, they were Division II NAIA, with the glory days being the Maine Athletic Conference throughout the 80's and 90's. The Owls played in a couple of MAC Championship games, which would have advanced them to the DII NAIA tournament with a win, but came up short both times. Once, in 1994, when they fell to Husson 86-87 at the Portland Expo, finishing at 16-10 that year, and then again in 1995-96, when they lost to St. Joseph's College 82-68 at the Bangor Auditorium, finishing with a 17-7 record. The hall of Fame UMPI team of 1973-74 which went 15-5 overall, fell in a one-point heartbreaker to Unity College, 67-66 at the NAIA district tournament championship.
Tomorrow, the Owls will be playing not only for themselves, and their UMPI community tomorrow, but for all the great Owls teams before them that fell just short in their ultimate game.
UMPI and Farmington tip-off at 1pm from Dearborn Gymnasium. In person attendance is only allowed through pre-registered tickets, and the registration window is now closed. Media coverage is free to access in all forms.
Game Coverage:
Live Video – Mount Blue TV:
https://boxcast.tv/channel/wpl8rt9uzz4xi0baa24a
Live Audio – UMPI YouTube + WHOU.live (Ricky Goupille Play by Play):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elpME_3LgPQ
Live Stats – https://owls.umpi.edu/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
