FARMINGTON HANGS ON TO DEFEAT WELLS

(Amherst, Mass.)─ Eric Taylor scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half as the University of Maine-Farmington (UMF) defeated the Wells College men's basketball team 67-60 in the consolation game of the Ken Wright '52 Invitational hosted by Amherst College Saturday afternoon in Amherst, Mass. Terry Harrison (Brooklyn, N.Y./Forest Hills) finished with 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Express. Taylor and Harrison were both named to the All-Tournament team following the game.  The loss drops the Express to 0-3 on the year, while UMF improves to 1-1.
 
Harrison, who averaged 18.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg during the two day tournament, was one of three Express players in double-figures. Mabior Mayen (Syracuse, Nottingham) notched a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Dave Foltz (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) chipped in with 11 points. Benito Perez (Crystal City, Texas/Crystal City) added 10 rebounds and five points for the Express.
 
Taylor was the only Farmington player to reach double-figures, while eleven others found the scoring column including Pet Sumner and Ben Johnson, who chipped in with nine points each for Farmington.
 
Despite the loss the Express dominated the boards, out rebounding Farmington 50-34, while causing 20 turnovers to go along with 13 steals. Shooting would be the achilles heel for the Express, finishing a dismal 28 percent (19-67) from the field. Farmington took advantage of the poor shooting by Wells, finishing 43.8 percent from the field, including hitting on 50 percent (11-22) of their shots in the second half.
 
The Express came out and took an early 10-2 lead but, Farmington fought off a sluggish start and rattled off seven straight points before taking a 15-14 lead. The two teams would remain scoreless over the next two minutes before two free throws by Israel Garcia (Cotulla, Texas/Cotulla) gave the Express a 16-15 lead. The two teams battled it out over the final seven minutes with Wells holding on to the one point lead, 28-27, heading into halftime.
 
Farmington quickly took the lead back in the early going of the second half when Taylor knocked down a jumper to make it a 29-28 contest. The Beavers would pull away and lead by as many as 12, but Wells made things interesting with a big five-point swing that ended when Garcia capitalized on a steal by burying a three, cutting the deficit to 58-53 with 4:40 to play. The Express could have cut it to three points, but they missed two free throws as Taylor would take over from there knocking down a pair of clutch free throws, followed by a difficult reverse layup to put the game out of reach with less than three minutes to play as Farmington hung on for the 67-60 victory.