BANGOR, ME – The final buzzer sounded, and the 2010 Paul Bunyan Tournament came to a close with Husson University earning the championship trophy, ending a 5-year drought.  Husson defeated the University of New England in a tight 76-62 victory.

At the start of the first half, Husson was on fire.  Head Coach Warren Caruso said that their physical size advantage would be the key to winning, and the Eagles showed their game plan in the first few minutes.  Center Marc Zaharchuk (SO, Richmond, ME) had 8 of their first 10 points until early fouls had him sitting the rest of the half.  With Zaharchuk on the bench, Husson looked to Jay Uhrin (SR, Winterport, ME) to carry the load offensively and Eric Modica (SO, Kittery, ME) to get the team confident with his defensive intensity. 

UNE was down by as many as 20 at one point in the first half, but cut the lead to 10 at the half.  The shooting of Marcus Winn (JR, Austin, TX) and Chas Rentrope (SR, Peoria, AR) gave the spark that UNE needed to get back into the game.  The halftime score was 40-30 with Husson leading.

Husson's Head Coach Warren Caruso said, "We got off to a great start, but had to sit Zaharchuk because of early foul trouble.  We battled through the first half and maintained the lead.  Sometimes, that's just what you have to do."

Winn continued his hot shooting early to keep UNE in the game, but Husson kept feeding the ball to the 7 foot 6 inch Zaharchuk who came through big – literally.  UNE got as close as 9 points with 10 minutes left, and a 53-44 score.  Though Husson had trouble boxing out on the defensive end, they found security on the offensive end in Uhrin's shooting.

"We have a good balance inside and out and that's what makes us tough to guard," said Caruso.  "Our balance forces the opposition to choose what to take away, and we seem to do a good job of taking what they give us and executing."

Uhrin ended the game with 22 points.  Josh Jones (SR, Jefferson, ME) had a double-double by the time the horn sounded, scoring 16 and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Zaharchuk ended the game with 23 points and 9 rebounds.  Husson got the lead early and never looked back, and bring home the Paul Bunyan trophy with a 76-62 victory.

For UNE, M. Winn had 25 points and Rentrope ended up with 13 points and 6 rebounds.

The players who brought home hardware as a part of the All-Tournament team included:

U. Maine at Machias – Rick Lupo (JR, Machias, ME)

U. Maine at Fort Kent – Kevin Loiselle (FY, Montreal, Quebec)

University of New England – Chas Rentrope (SR, Peoria, AR)

University of New England – Marcus Winn (JR, Austin, TX)

Husson University – Josh Jones (SR, Jefferson, ME)

The Tournament MVP, from Husson University, was Marc Zaharchuk (SO, Richmond, ME).

BANGOR, ME – In the third-place game game for the Paul Bunyan Tournament, U. Maine at Fort Kent dominated U. Maine at Machias, defeating them 92-55.  UMFK's Kevin Loiselle (FY, Montreal, Quebec) was the story today, scoring 19 points (including several dunks) and grabbing 15 rebounds.  Manny Odugbela (JR, Providence, RI) also had 19 for Fort Kent, and all but one player from Fort Kent scored in the game.

In the first half, Fort Kent was pressing in a full court zone defense, causing Machias to turn the ball over and fall behind quickly.  If it wasn't clear that UMFK had the momentum, Loiselle threw down an alley-oop dunk to push their confidence even higher.  Machias penetrated Fort Kent's half court zone well, but shot too many three-pointers early on to stay in the game.  After being down by as many as 16, Machias outscored Fort Kent 15-12 in the last 5 minutes of the half to decrease the lead to 13, still losing 42-29.

The second half started with Fort Kent going on a 12-0 run behind a few dunks and easy lay-ups, and that was the story of the second half.  Fort Kent got near the basket early and often, and cruised to a 92-55 victory.

For Machias, Zach Pope (FY, Orlando, FL) was the high-point man with 15, while Zach Armstrong (JR, Waldoboro, ME) nearly achieved a double-double, scoring 8 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Will Lewis (FY, Apopka, FL) contributed 7 points and dished out 8 assists.