ORONO – For a half of Saturday’s mutual season opener, University of Southern Maine guard Frank Billings floated around on the perimeter of the University of Maine zone defense, launching an occasional shot as the undersized Huskies tried to stay close.

For about a half, the tactic worked. Billings had 15 points before the break and the Division III Huskies trailed by only five points with 5:40 left.

In the second half, things got ugly. Billings got only three shots at the hoop, USM was held to three made field goals, and the Black Bears routed the Huskies 77-33 in front of 1,346 fans at Alfond Arena.

The explanation for the difference in his two halves was as simple as four words for the USM sharpshooter.

“Ramone Jones guarded me” Billings said.

Jones, UMaine’s stopper, put the shackles on Billings and the other Bears abandoned their varied zone sets to play tenacious man-to-man `D’ that limited the Huskies to 3-of-25 accuracy (12 percent) after the break.

That halftime switch from zones to man-to-man also led to a little less deliberate style of play on the offensive end and some easy hoops.

UMaine coach John Giannini wasn’t pleased with his team’s play in the first half.

“The word we used to describe the first half was that it was disappointing,” Giannini said. “We missed some easy shots and they got a few open shots that normally we don’t give up.”

Still, Allen Ledbetter closed the first half by scoring eight straight points to key a 13-2 run that gave his team some breathing room. And after the halftime defensive switch, the Bears reeled off a 22-3 opening run to finish the Huskies.

“They were attacking our zone well at the end of the first half,” Giannini said of the change. “This was one of the rare situations this year where we did have an advantage in depth and talent.”

USM first-year coach Dan Costigan knew his Huskies were overmatched.

“We did all right for a while there,” he said. “We didn’t shoot the ball. We shot better in the first half, but that’s comparative. We shot 25 percent [in the first half].”

In the USM starting lineup, four players stood 6-foot and one was 5-10. The Bears went 5-10, 6-5, 6-5, 6-6, 6-8. Maine used that size advantage to rack up a 55-32 rebounding edge.

“I thought that we would be able to defend them individually and that an increase in tempo would help us in this particular game.”

Sophomore guard John Gordon connected for 13 points and dished for five assists and senior guard Jones had 13 pooints for the Bears. Allen Ledbetter ruled inside, grabbing 13 of his 17 rebounds in the first half and scoring 12 points. Terry Hunt notched nine points and 10 rebounds, while reserve Corey Thibodeau added 11 points in just nine minutes of action.

Billings finished with 15 and was the only USM player in double figures.

Black Bears 77, Huskies 33

Southern Maine (0-1) Maine (1-0)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Levesque 0 2 0 0 0 Gordon 4 7 2 2 13

Bodge 0 4 3 5 3 Thibodeau 4 7 0 1 11

Ellerbrook 3 10 0 0 6 Hunt 4 13 0 1 9

Billings 5 14 0 0 15 Thompson 2 2 0 0 4

Peavey 0 2 0 0 0 Faison 1 4 1 2 3

Segal 0 6 0 1 0 Jones 5 10 2 2 13

Foster 2 6 0 0 6 Thomas 1 5 2 2 4

Larrabee 1 5 0 0 3 Long 0 2 2 2 2

Cole 0 3 0 0 1 James 3 7 0 0 6

Fortin 0 1 0 0 0 Ledbetter 5 9 2 2 12

Love 0 3 0 0 0

Totals 11 57 3 6 33 Totals 29 66 11 14 77

Southern Maine 22 33

Maine 37 77

3-pt. goals: Southern Maine (8-36): Levesque 0-2, Bodge 0-1, Ellerbrook 0-5, Peavey 0-1, Segal 0-6, Foster 2-5, Larrabee 1-2, Cole 0-1, Fortin 0-1, Love 0-2; Billings 5-10; Maine (8-16): Gordon 3-5, Thibodeau 3-4, Hunt 1-4, Faison 0-1, Jones 1-2