PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Earl Hunt scored 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds Saturday as Brown defeated Maine 81-63.

Alai Nuualiitia added 20 points and 10 rebounds for Brown (5-6), which broke open a close game with a 13-4 run midway through the second half. The two players accounted for more than half of Brown’s scoring and 24 of the team’s 39 rebounds.

Brown converted 19 of 23 free throw attempts, while Maine struggled at the line, making 12 of 23 foul shots.

Maine (9-4) cut the lead to 45-44 with 14:26 left on a layup by Derrick Jackson. But Brown, sparked by eight points from Hunt, went on a 13-4 run over the next 2:20 to put the game out of reach.

UMaine coach John Giannini said the game continued a string of contests in which his team struggled early.

“We got off to another bad start and we had a good stretch midway through the first half to get back into the game,” Giannini said.

“Then we played very well for the first five to six minutes of the second half. But that only totaled about 10 to 12 good minutes of basketball for the game.”

Brown coach Glen Miller, on the other hand, was ecstatic about how his team played.

“This is as close to a complete game as we can play,” Miller said.

Julian Dunkley led Maine with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

He got help from senior guard Errick Greene, who scored in double figures for the third straight game and finished with 12 points. Colin Haynes added 11 points and six rebounds in 22 minutes of work while Tory Cavalieri handed out seven assists.

The Black Bears played without senior forward Carvell Ammons, and received another sub-par performance from junior guard Huggy Dye.

Ammons, who was averaging 14.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per contest, sat out the game with a jammed right (non-shooting) thumb.

Giannini downplayed the absence of Ammons.

“I’m just so high on our depth, I just expected other players to play well,” Giannini said.

Dye played just 19 minutes and failed to break out of a brutal three-game scoring slump. Dye, who had been averaging more than 18 points a game, suffered through a 1-for-10 afternoon against the Bears and scored just four points.

In his last three games Dye has averaged 3.6 points a game and shot a combined 4-for-29 from the floor.

Giannini defended the play of his junior standout.

“Some of Huggy’s [four] turnovers were not good plays, but the shots that he missed, and has been missing, are the same ones that helped him average 18 points a game, and the same ones that he was shooting better than 50 percent on over the first 11 games of the season,” Giannini said.

The Black Bears return home for a key three-game, seven-day string against conference opponents.

Vermont invades Alfond Arena on Monday night, while Hartford will take on the Bears on Wednesday and New Hampshire heads to Orono for a Sunday afternoon game.

Brown 81, Maine 63

Maine (9-4) Brown (5-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Greene 5 8 2 5 12 Powers 2 6 2 6

Haynes 4 6 2 5 11 Nuualitia 6 6 10 20

Dunkley 8 15 2 6 19 Etheridge 2 4 5

Jackson 2 6 0 0 5 Ware 1 4 3 5

Dye 1 10 2 2 4 Hunt 10 21 6 28

Waterman 0 0 0 0 0 Carrington 0 0

Cavalieri 1 7 2 2 4 McCloskey 0 0

Tibbetts 0 1 0 0 0 Martin 1 1 3

Riley 0 1 0 0 0 Driggers 0 0 0

Croom 0 1 0 0 0 Simpson 1 4 0 2

Brown 2 4 0 1 4 Wood 1 6 0 3

White 1 2 2 2 4 Howard 4 5 0 9

Kilburn 0 0 0 0

Meyer 0 0 0 0

Totals 24 61 12 23 63 Totals 28 58 19 23 81

Maine 30 63

Brown 38 81

3-pt. goals: Maine (3-20): Haynes 1-1, Dunkley 1-4, Jackson 1-5, Dye 0-4, Cavalieri 0-5, Tibbetts 0-1; Brown (6-22): Powers 0-3, Etheridge 1-3, Ware 0-1, Hunt 2-6, Carrington 0-1, Martin 1-1, Simpson 0-2, Wood 1-4, Howard 1-1

Attendance: 973