BUFFALO, NY - The Villa Maria Vikings had a look from 35 feet at the buzzer but couldn't get the winning shot to fall as they suffered a 71-69 defeat at the hands of the University of Maine at Fort Kent on Tuesday evening at the Villa Athletic Center.

Sophomore Justin Stokes (Buffalo, NY/Middle Early College) fired up a late running three that would have given Villa the win but it hit the left side of the backboard and grazed the rim before eventually hitting the floor.  

The Vikings trailed by six early on and led by as many as four.  The two teams traded baskets and leads for a majority of the first half before Maine took a two-point edge, and 37-35 lead into the locker room.

The Bengals extended their lead to as many as nine early in the second half and held the lead throughout the entire second half.  They led 68-61 with 3:40 left before sophomore Jayson Moore (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) knocked down a triple from the left wing to cut the deficit to four.  Freshman big man Darius Huggins (Buffalo, NY/Lackawanna) then completed an old-fashioned three-point-play to cut the deficit to one on the next possession.  Jake Rioux then broke the Viking's back, drilling a three pointer to answer the Vikings' burst.

Sophomore Justin Stokes (Middle Early College) came up with a steal two possessions later and quickly turned it into two points to trim the lead in half.  After Maine missed the front end of a one-and-one with seven seconds left, Stokes took a pass and couldn't get his long runner to go.

Freshman Craig Page (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) finished with a career-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting.  He scored 10 of the team's first 18 points and also added 6 rebounds.  Huggins finished with his sixth double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds.  It also marked the ninth consecutive game that Huggins has scored in double-figures.  Junior Andre Diggs (Bronx, NY/Erie Community) was also in double-figures for the third straight game, finishing with 13 points.  Stokes chipped in 12 points.

Maine shot 50 percent for the game while Villa shot 46 percent.  Villa held an edge on the boards 36-33 and also had 12 second chance points to Maine's 3.

The Vikings will hit the road for seven of their next eight games beginning on Saturday when they take on Delhi at 3 p.m.