During preseason practices and through two high-scoring exhibition games, the University of Maine men’s basketball team has shown considerable offensive skills.

But after the Black Bears kicked off their regular-season slate with a lopsided 98-75 victory over Hampton University, a lot of the postgame talk revolved around the defense.

In practices, UMaine coach John Giannini uses a descriptive phrase to refer to the kind of defense he wants to see his team play.

Since the beginning of practice Giannini has told his team to play defense like “crazed, gnawing rats.”

And on Saturday, Giannini said “The Rats” showed their teeth for the first time.

“They were slobbering on ’em and biting ’em a little bit out there,” Giannini said in the postgame press conference.

And outside of throwing a good helping of rat-slobber at the Pirates, the Black Bears had a sound defensive plan.

“Technically, a lot of things came together,” Giannini said. “Defensively we had ball pressure, good traps and rotations.”

That combination stymied the Pirates from the start, as the Black Bears forced 17 first-half turnovers and held Hampton to 27 points before intermission.

The Hampton offense seemed out of sync from the start, as Black Bears continually harassed the Pirates and stepped into passing lanes to deflect the ball.

“They took us out of our rhythm by trapping,” said Hampton coach Steve Merfeld, who admitted the tactic surprised him. “This time of year it’s extremely hard to be prepared for everything, especially when it’s your first game and you don’t have a whole lot of information on them.”

Hampton finished the game with 23 turnovers.

When the Black Bears drilled 16 of 26 attempts from behind the 3-point line against Hampton, they scared the league mark for most 3-pointers in a game.

The 16 3’s is a UMaine record, and trails only the 17 bombs Vermont nailed in a 1993 game against Division III Middlebury on the all-time America East list.

The Black Bears broke a Vermont logjam at the top of the list: The Catamounts have hit 15 3-pointers in a game three times and drained 14 on four other occasions.

University of Maine junior linebacker Brent Naccara said he told Bear assistant coach Bobby Wilder that he could return a kickoff for a touchdown some time. It happened on Saturday as he rambled 69 yards for the game’s final TD in Maine’s 55-34 loss to UMass in Amherst, Mass.

“I’ve been waiting for a couple of years. I’ve always been telling coach Wilder that I can do it,” said Naccara, who had never returned a kickoff for a touchdown in his life before Saturday. “We’ve just been waiting for them to give us the opportunity to do it. I’m glad it happened. I just wish it could have meant a little more in the game.”

Naccara returned a kickoff 33 yards earlier in the game and finished with three returns for 113 yards as Maine set the school single-game record for kickoff return yardage with 232. Darrick Brown had five returns for 113 yards and Chad Rogers returned one for six yards.

The University of Maine’s senior football players will be honored Friday during the annual senior farewell luncheon at the Black Bear Inn in Orono.

Tickets are $7 and interested fans are asked to contact Brenda Hesseltine in the UMaine football office at 581-1062.

The Bears’ seniors include Drew O’Connor, Darrick Brown, Mickey Fein, Eric Lewis, Lateef O’Connor, Bert Rich, Cody Tatro, Billy Cole, Jon Gallant, Giff Salisbury, Pat Sheehan, Steve Gangi, Shawn Taylor and Ves Lugo.

The Husson College women’s basketball team, with the help of the Bangor Police Department, raised more than $300 for Cancer Care of Maine during Sunday’s Ed Gott Charity Game at Newman Gym in Bangor.

The Braves and the Bangor P.D. played to a 61-61 overtime tie in the event, which is named in memory of former Husson assistant coach Ed Gott.