Machias upsets top seeded Saints to advance to championship

Play Video

AUBURN, Maine - The University of Maine at Machias Clippers pulled off the upset of the tournament Saturday evening 69-66 to advance to the Yankee Small College Conference Elite Eight Championship Sunday afternoon. UMM will take on the winner of the CMCC/SMCC game to be played later.

Machias guard Ben Teer (Machias, Maine) iced a pair of free-throws with 6.7 remaining to put the Clippers up by three and a last second shot from Travis Threewitts (Queen, N.Y.) came up short to put the fifth-ranked Clippers in the championship game. 

In a game that included five ties and six lead changes, neither team led by more than six at any point. The Clippers out-rebounded the Saints 53-42 thanks in large part to a monster game from Travonne Thompson (Melbourne, Fla.) who pulled down a game-high 20 boards, though CSJ's Kareem Brown (Troy, N.Y.) grabbed 19 rebounds to go along with a team-high 18 points. 

Antonio Gordon came off of the bench to score 18 points for the Saints while Threewitts was the only other CSJ player in double-digits with 15 points. 

The Clippers led by six points with 2:03 remaining in regulation, but the Saints battled back with a layup from Threewitts and a three-pointer by Kyle Houston (Brockton, Mass.) brought his team to within two with 37 seconds. Following a Teer missed layup, Antonio Gordon hit the second end of a double-bonus to cut the Machias lead to one point at 67-66 before Teer iced both ends of a one on one to set the final score.

Tomorrow's game will be played at 2:00 p.m. at Central Maine Community College.