South Portland - This afternoon, the Seawolves, currently ranked number one in the YSCC East, battled against the number three Clippers of UMaine-Machias. Both teams were sporting spotless conference records entering today's contest but after 40 hard fought minutes the Seawolves handed the Clippers a 90-77 loss.

1:09 into the game, Seawolves' standout Atencio Martin (Kittery, ME) hit a shot from beyond the arc to put SMCC on top 3-0, a lead they would not relinquish throughout the game. The Seawolves shot a stellar 52.8% from the floor in the first half, including Martin's perfect 3-3 performance, in comparison to the Clippers' 32% shooting. The Seawolves also outrebounded UMM in the first half, 21-11. The rebound margin, coupled with the impressive shooting percentage, allowed the Seawolves to double up the Clippers, 44-22, going into the break.

The Seawolves were able to maintain their 22 point advantage until the 11:32 mark of the second half, 67-45, but the Clippers refused to go away and started to claw their way back into the game. Over the next six minutes UMM outscored SMCC 19-9, thanks in part to seven points from Clippers center Ivory Sneed, to close the gap to just 12 points. The game went back and forth for four minutes until an Antwan Ruise layup at 1:42 pulled the Clippers to within 10 but SMCC answered with back to back layups from Alexander Hartford (Naples, ME) and Jordan DeRosby (Waterville, ME) giving SMCC an 89-75 lead with under a minute to play.

Leading the Seawolves were forwards Tyheem Simon (Queens, NY) and Jack Tolan (South Portland, ME) who netted 15 points apiece on a combined 12-16 shooting. Martin put up 13 and center Carlos Gonzalez (Lewiston, ME) chipped in with 12. Sneed led the Clippers with a game high 24 points.

The Seawolves will be back in action on Thursday for a rivalry game against number two ranked Central Maine CC at CMCC at 8pm.

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