BANGOR – The University of Maine-Farmington Beavers made only one field goal in the final eight minutes of their first-round Maine Event game, but held UMaine-Presque Isle at bay long enough to escape Newman Gym with a 71-59 win on Friday afternoon.

The Beavers went up 58-47 when sophomore Jason White drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing with 8:08 to go.

A defensive switch from man-to-man to a zone that extended out to the wings took away some of UMF’s perimeter attack, but the Owls weren’t able to take advantage on the other end of the court. UMF made of 10 of 14 free throw attempts in the final 3:33 to ice it.

UM-Farmington improves to 2-2, while UM-Presque Isle drops to 2-4.

St. Joseph’s College of Standish rolled past UM-Machias 121-79 in the opener and Colby College of Waterville followed by dismantling Maine Maritime Academy 113-60.

Husson rolled past the University of Southern Maine in the nightcap 90-73.

The tourney continues on Saturday and Sunday with games at 1, 3, 5, and 7 p.m. on each day.

“I don’t think we played competitively,” UMPI coach Karl Henrikson said. “I think we played too soft. We gave up too many offensive rebounds in the first half, we don’t pressure people on the perimeter. We’ve got good teams in this league that will run their offense well and execute unless you take something away from them.”

Silky sophomore Daren Meader was the big gun for the Beavers, scoring 18 of his game-high 27 points before intermission. Steve Toland added 14, while senior guard Laughn Berthiaume tossed in 13.

Brian Colman scored 16 for the Owls. Sophomore Stephan Hermansson added 16 more.

In the first half, the referees swallowed their whistles and the teams took turns making runs on each other in the clean, wide-open affair. First the Beavers, then the Owls took control of the action. Neither team reached the bonus, and UM-Farmington didn’t commit its first foul until less than six minuutes remained.

UM-Farmington reeled off nine straight points early to take a 14-6 lead, but UM-Presque Isle answered with two bombs and a putback by Colman and a layup by Mick Downer to make it 16-14, UMPI.

The Beavers outscored UMPI 17-6 over the final eight minutes before intermission, though, to take a 34-26 lead at the break. Meader did the bulk of the damage, erupting for 18 first-half points.

(First Game) St. Joseph’s College (2-0) 121

St. Pierre 1-10 4-4 7, Bernard 5-7 0-0 10, Sterrs 0-0 0-0 0, Sanicola 8-11 3-4 22, Fortier 5-11 0-0 12, Haynes 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 5-9 2-2 13, Bell 2-7 0-0 4, Campbell 5-10 0-0 10, Zalieckas 6-7 0-1 12, Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Howell 7-21 7-8 21, Moorhead 2-4 0-0 4, Harrison 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 48-100 18-21 121 UMaine-Machias (4-4) 79

Bojic 8-12 0-0 19, Talarico 3-6 2-3 8, Malgast 1-3 0-0 2, White 0-0 0-0 0, Sutton-Herbert 1-6 0-1 2, Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Rajabzadeh 3-8 1-2 9, Hughes 0-0 0-0 0, Wood 3-4 0-0 8, Sherman 7-18 1-3 20, Traup 6-11 2-2 14

3-pt. goals: St. Pierre, Sanicola 3, Fortier 2, Martin, Howell 2; Bojic 1, Rajabzadeh 2, Wood 2, Sherman 5

(Second Game) Colby College (2-0) 113

McCullough 5-9 2-2 13, Twettie 2-4 2-2 8, Forsyth 1-3 1-3 3, Hansen 4-6 2-5 11, Davis 1-1 0-0 2, Petroskey 3-7 2-4 11, Allen 4-7 2-2 11, White 1-5 3-5 5, Gallagher 0-3 0-0 0, Olinto 0-1 0-0 0, Meisner 0-3 3-6 3, Civiello 2-4 4-7 8, Clark 2-3 0-0 4, Conway 0-1 0-0 0, Hinton 3-3 0-0 6, Cunningham 3-4 3-3 9, Spidle 6-7 2-4 19. Totals 38-67 26-44 113 Maine Maritime Academy (2-1) 60

Weed 0-1 0-0 0, Danner 1-1 0-0 3, Pratt 1-1 1-3 3, King 0-0 0-0 0, Kelly 6-11 2-2 15, Beeler 2-4 0-0 4, Buttery 5-11 0-0 10, Fitzgerald 2-10 3-3 8, Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Ketchen 1-11 2-2 4, Brady 0-0 0-0 0, McNealy 1-2 0-0 2, Colby 2-6 3-4 7, Otenti 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 24-64 11-15 60

3-pt. goals: McCullough, Twettie 2, Hansen, Petroskey, Allen, Spidle 5; Danner, Kelly, Fitzgerald

(Third Game) UM-Farmington (1-2) 71

Bryant 0-2 3-4 3, Berthiaume 3-13 4-4 13, Soucie 0-1 0-0 0, Spadea 4-0 1-2 9, White 1-3 0-0 3, Redstone 0-2 0-0 0, Meader 10-18 5-8 27, Lasante 1-2 0-0 2, Toland 6-12 2-4 14. Totals 25-62 15-21 71 UM-Presque Isle (2-3) 59

Okunniwa 2-7 0-0 4, Hermansson 8-10 0-0 16, Eastmond 1-7 0-0 3, Hamel 0-1 0-0 0, Downer 1-2 0-0 0, Townsend 2-10 0-0 4, Kay 1-4 0-0 2, Anderson 1-1 0-0 3, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1-8 2-3 5, Joseph 2-9 2-4 6, Malek 0-1 0-0 0, Colman 5-13 4-5 16. Totals 24-74 8-12 59

3-pt. goals: White, Meader 2; Eastmond, Anderson, Mitchell, Colman 2

Halftime: UM-Farmington 34, UM-Presque Isel 26