Concord, NH – CMCC Men's Basketball picked up its 15th win of the season with a 94-85 victory over NHTI on the road Thursday night. Freshman forward Khaden Moore set a new career-high with 30 points, edging out his previous best of 29 scored against the Lynx at home back in November. It was the Naugutuck, CT native's ninth game scoring 20+ points.
The hosts took the early lead, going up 14-7 after 5:35. YSCC leading scorer Joseph Cantey and freshman Mark Lual each had 13 points in the first half for NHTI, as the team looked for its first win of conference play.
This time, the Mustangs did not need to wait for the second half to start their comeback. Moore countered with 13 points of his own before halftime and Wyatt Hathaway dropped 11 to pull CMCC level at 20-20 midway through the opening stanza. Buckets from Riley Bowen and Ben Francis put the visitors out in front, setting up the teams to swap the lead in the final minutes. Will Duke hit a three-pointer on the final possession to give Central Maine a 47-45 lead at halftime.
The Mustangs had the better start to the second half, going on a 13-3 run in the opening minutes. J.T. Pound's three-pointer with 16:17 left made it 60-48, but that 12-point lead would be the largest of the game. Cantey had another 13 points in the second half to help close the gap, and NHTI got within two possessions a couple times late in the game but could not get closer.
Moore grabbed 17 more points after the break and Pound knocked down back-to-back threes to increase the lead to 82-73. An R.J. Sancio triple cut the deficit to five with 46 seconds left on the clock, but the Mustangs made 4-of-6 free throws to seal the deal.
A trio of players joined Moore in double figures. Pound's great second half gave the Freeport High School product 17 total for the game. Hathaway finished with 13 and Duke had 10. Bowen also had a good night. The Melbourne, Australia native pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds. In total, the lead swapped eight times despite CMCC shooting 50.0% from the field.
With the victory, Central Maine surpasses its win total from the 2023-24 season when the squad finished 14-14 overall. The Mustangs finished a regular season sweep of the Lynx, the team that beat them three times last year including a two-point victory in the YSCC Championship game.
Men's Basketball now gets a nearly two-week break from conference play before their showdown with archrivals SMCC on Wednesday, February 12th. In the meantime, the Mustangs face a couple non-conference opponents, starting with a visit from Washington County on Sunday, February 2nd before a pair of games against UMaine-Fort Kent next weekend.
