AUBURN - An off-night of shooting didn't hamper Central Maine Community College's tenacity in a men's basketball game against Southern Maine Community College.

 The Mustangs' work ethic remained intact, but missed opportunities on offense opened the door for the SeaHorses to snatch a 69-62 victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Kirk Hall on Wednesday night.

 "The kids worked very hard," CMCC coach Dave Gonyea said. "Two things we ask (of them) - be coachable and work hard and they did both of those things. We shot very poorly tonight. If you don't shoot, you don't win.

 "Kudos to (the SeaWolves). Coach (Matt) Richards is very good coach. He is what I call a half-court coach. (But) we are going to be fine. We will all get up tomorrow morning."

 After SMCC built a 35-33 lead in the first half, the SeaWolves and Mustangs struggled to score in the second half. SMCC finally pulled away with 11:40 left in the game. Guard Thomas Martinotti's 3-pointer sailed through the rim to top off a 45-38 lead with 11:40 left in the second half.

 "It is always hard to win when you have a tough shooting night," CMCC sophomore guard Jeremiah Simeon (four points), said. "It was just tough."

 But the SeaHorses' shooting started to sputter, allowing the Mustangs an opportunity to make a run at SMCC. 

 Jackson Birmingham started CMCC's procession to the net with a long drive for two of his 11 points. Teammate Boston Cauldwell also scored on a layup to make it a 45-42. Wyatt Hathaway (11 points) nailed down a 3-pointer to tie the game and Cauldwell followed up two of his team-leading 16 points to hand CMCC a 47-45 lead with seven minutes left in the game. Cam Pollock scored 10 points.

 With less than six minutes left in the game, the SeaHorses got hot again and jumped out to a 55-51 lead and stayed ahead for the  rest of the competition. Adam Savage scored the game-high 18 points, Luke Briggs had 17 and Martinotti had 15.