CASTINE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy men's basketball fell to Wheelock College 93-85 in overtime on Saturday night inside of Smith Gymnasium, in the first game of the Maine Maritime Tip-Off Tournament. 

With the loss, the Mariners fall to 0-2 on the season and will play the loser of the Trinity College and Bates College matchup tomorrow at 12:00 pm, the Wildcats improve to 1-1 overall and will play the winner of that matchup at 2:00 pm.

The Wildcats maintained a narrow lead during most of the first half, and went on to lead by as much as 14 with 5:22 remaining, but the Mariners fought back and outscored Wheelock 11-3 in the closing minutes, led by six points from Tyler Thayer (Hermon, Maine), to enter halftime down by just six (38-32).

Adam Richardson (Bradley, Maine) led the Mariners in the first half with 11 points, while Kadeem Apply led Wheelock with nine points.

Wheelock built up a 12-point lead twice in the second half before the Mariners went on a six-point run to close the gap to 64-58 with 7:47 on the clock. The Mariners continued to chip away at the Wildcats' lead and used a 14-7 run to take the lead (72-71) following a Richardson layup with 2:22 to go.

The two teams exchanged the lead back-and-forth until Nick Judge (Cushing, Maine) made two free throws with five seconds remaining to give the Mariners a 78-75 advantage. Wheelock's Kiwane Crowder sank a long three-pointer in the final second to send the game into overtime.

Wheelock took a three-point lead to open up overtime, and built a seven-point lead with 2:23 to play. The Mariners fought back to close the gap to two following a layup by Richardson and a three from Judge, but the Wildcats scored eight-straight to close out the game and took the 93-85 victory. 

Richardson led all players with a career-high 29 points, including a perfect 9-of-9 from the line tying the Maine Maritime single-game record. Richardson also tallied a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds and added six assists, a block and a steal. Thayer ended the night with 15 points, six rebounds and an assist, Judge tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block and Riley Jorgenson (Vienna, Va.) rounded out the Mariners in double-digits with 12 points and five rebounds.

Dejuan Rodriguez led the Wildcats with 28 points, seven rebounds, a steal and a block and Crowder finished the evening with 21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and a steal. Apply totaled 15 points and three rebounds and Erick Hernandez added a double-double with 12 assists, 10 points, six steals and five rebounds.

The Mariners held a 38-32 edge in rebounds, but the Wildcats shot 52.2 percent from the floor while the Mariners shot 43.9 percent.