South Portland native Chris Markwood earned his first win as a college head coach on Friday night as his University of Maine men’s basketball team cruised to a 90-45 victory over the University of Maine at Fort Kent at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Both teams are now 1-1.
UMaine lost its opener to the University of Nebraska 79-66 on Monday.
UMFK, which is an NAIA school that is a member of the nationwide United States Collegiate Athletic Association, pulled out a 69-65 overtime win at Husson University in Bangor on Thursday night.
UMaine’s next game will be a 6 p.m. contest on Monday at Boston College, where Markwood was an assistant coach last season.
UMFK will have a fast turnaround as the Bengals are scheduled to host Villa Maria College from Buffalo, New York on Saturday afternoon at 2.
Both teams have first-year head coaches as UMFK athletic director Carly Flowers is also the men’s basketball coach after replacing Tom Bird, who resigned in September.
Markwood replaced Richard Barron, who stepped down with four games remaining in the 2021-22 season.
Markwood played basketball at Notre Dame and the University of Maine and was an assistant at UMaine, Vermont, Northeastern and BC.
Montana State transfer Kellen Tynes scored 12 first-half points and Georgia Southern transfer Gedi Juozapaitis had 11 as the Black Bears built a comfortable 48-20 lead.
The Black Bears shot 58.1 percent from the floor (18-for-31) to UMFK’s 27.6 percent (8-for-29) and outrebounded the Bengals 22-12 over the first 20 minutes.
The Black Bears also had a 26-6 edge in points in the paint and a 21-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
Fourteen players saw action in the contest for the Black Bears.
Junior forward Peter Filipovity paced all scorers with 17 points, and he finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Fifth-year senior guard Juozapaitis wound up with 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, and sophomore guard Tynes contributed 14 points, seven steals and six assists. Kristians Feierbergs produced eight points and three rebounds, and Byron Ireland also had eight points to go with three assists.
Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish finished with seven points, six rebounds and two steals and Jaden Clayton netted four points, five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals.
Jordan Guerrero led the Bengals with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals. Nate Huynh had 12 points and a pair of rebounds, and Henrique Andrade notched seven points, three rebounds and two assists. All three are freshmen.
Guerrero had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Husson.
Sophomore Micah Petty had six points and four assists.
