BANGOR, Maine – Maine guard Garet Beal caught fire from three-point range and scored a career-high 23 points off the bench to lift the Black Bears to a 92-82 win over Longwood Wednesday at Cross Insurance Center.
 
Beal knocked down 6-of-9 three-pointers and led a 44-point effort from Maine's bench that pushed the Black Bears (1-3) past a shorthanded Longwood team playing without starting point guard Tra'Vaughn White, who missed the game with a wrist injury. Beal's breakout performance came as Maine shot .500 (31-of-62) from the floor and .485 (16-of-33) from three-point range en route to the Black Bears' hottest shooting performance of the season.
 
"We must be a bullseye because teams are really shooting the basketball well against us right now," said Longwood head coach Jayson Gee. "This is not a typical Longwood basketball team. From a defensive standpoint, we're certainly not very good right now. Maine had multiple guys that stepped up and hit some shots, but certainly our main issue is the inability to defend."
 
Beal's 23 led the way for four double-figure scorers, including 14 points from freshman and team leading scorer Issac Vann. Vann, who entered the game as the America East's top three-point shooter and fifth-leading scorer, was limited to just 19 minutes after suffering an injury two minutes into the second half that forced him to the bench for the rest of the game.
 
Vann's absence did little to silence the Black Bears, however, as Maine went on to shoot 9-of-16 from three-point range in the second half. The Lancers were shorthanded as well, working around three fouls credited to redshirt senior center Lotanna Nwogbo, who neared a double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds but was limited to just 21 minutes on the court.
 
Nwogbo's limited minutes and the absence of White proved too much for the Lancers to overcome. Longwood freshman Chris Shields did his part, contributing a career-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting off the bench, but where the Lancers struggled to absorb the absence of a key starter, Maine's bench did not.

The Beal-led Black Bear reserves easily made up for Vann's second-half injury by pouring in 44 points to complement a starting lineup that totaled 48 points, including a combined 24 from the backcourt duo of Aaron Calixte and Kevin Little.

"Our short numbers and our fatigue played a part in Maine having that success, but really their ability to penetrate the basket forced us to make adjustments and then leave shooters," Gee said. "That really put us at a disadvantage. We have to find a way to shore that up because this team we play Saturday is very, very good at that."
 
Longwood will have just three days to shake off Wednesday's loss before facing Columbia on the road Saturday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. That will be the fifth consecutive road game for the Lancers and the final non-conference game before the start of early Big South play when Longwood opens the conference slate with a Dec. 2 matchup at High Point.
 
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