BANGOR – One day after the Husson College men’s basketball team dropped its opening-round game in the Paul Bunyan Tournament to team of freshmen and sophomores, the Braves needed a victory.

Husson coach Warren Caruso wasn’t concerned with how the Braves got a victory. Rally, big halftime lead, even play from both teams – it didn’t matter.

And despite an uneven game in which they looked strong in the first half and a bit flat in the second, the Braves did it. Nate Cyr poured in 28 points to lead Husson to a 90-67 victory over UMaine-Presque Isle in the consolation game of the Bunyan tourney.

Fisher College of Boston, which has 11 freshmen on its roster, took the Bunyan tournament with an 80-55 win over Notre Dame College of Manchester, N.H., in the championship game.

Notre Dame beat UM-Presque Isle 89-72 Saturday in the opening game of the tournament. Fisher held off Husson 75-68 in Saturday’s second game.

UMPI, which opened up the season with two wins, has now dropped four straight.

The Braves’ win was critical in an inconsistent 5-4 season. Caruso was pleased that Husson made several strides, including the team’s first game with more assists (22) than turnovers (17) and the team’s first game with better than 50 percent shooting (54.2).

“Every team goes through some ups and downs … and I think over the past few games we’ve had more kids in a little bit of a valley more than a peak,” he said. “It’s a good time of year for that because usually they come out of it and start playing well. We’re still struggling with consistency a little but today was a good day. We had some people play well.”

Cyr had a chance to show what he can do, and made the most of his time. Cyr, a Howland native, and Brad Galley both had a chance to start because regular starters Robert Pilsbury and Randy Fletcher were disciplined for breaking a team rule (they didn’t show up in proper attire for a pregame meal, Caruso said) and came off the bench.

Cyr was one of the Husson players who regained his shooting touch Sunday after struggling Saturday. He went 10-for-12 from the floor and made six of his seven 3-point attempts. He also had a team-high nine rebounds.

“You want to go hard either way, if you start or come off the bench,” Cyr said. “We just [weren’t] getting it done in transition [Saturday]. … We weren’t swinging the ball around and making that extra pass. [Sunday] we got up and down the floor and did a great job.”

The Braves got a quick start, rolling out to a 17-2 lead. The Owls made it 17-10 thanks to a Heath Roberson basket and six points from Antrone Moore, but Husson’s perimeter shooting was too strong. The Braves hit seven of their 15 3-point attempts and shot 58.8 percent en route to a 51-25 halftime lead.

“We played hard through the first 20 minutes and made good decisions,” Caruso said. “The kids responded well.”

But Husson slipped a bit in the second half as the Owls started to make shots and mixed up defenses with zone and man-to-man. UMPI outscored the Braves 42-39 and Moore, who had 10 points in the first half, turned up his game with an 8-for-11 effort from the floor in the second half. He finished with 32 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

“We needed to play well against a good team and Husson is the best team in our conference,” Owls coach Rich Ward said. “We were all trying to play good individual defense but [in the second half] we came together as a team. That was nice. We saw some things we’ll build on.”

Husson guard Pilsbury, who had been averaging 26.5 points per game, scored 15 points Saturday and 11 Sunday.

In the championship game, the Falcons were down 8-3 early but rallied to take the lead for good with 11:46 left in the first half when guard Carmine Charlese scored a fast-break layup. Fisher went on a 26-8 run to close out the half.

The Falcons struggled a bit in their outside shooting, so they went inside to 6-foot-9 center Efy Anosike, who went 7-for-9 from the floor and finished with 17 points. He also had 14 rebounds.

“We looked for the big guys a lot, especially today,” said Falcons coach Christopher Jones. “[Saturday] we really shot the ball well and [Sunday] we didn’t shoot as well but we hit shots when we needed to hit shots.”

Tony Jefferson led Fisher with 21 points. Anthony Jones scored a game-high 22 points for Notre Dame.

In Saturday’s first game, the Notre Dame Saints didn’t let an early 19-6 UMPI lead bother them.

Notre Dame pulled to within six points with 10:20 left in the first half. Nick Richards scored off a rebound and hit a 3-pointer on the Saints’ next possession to pull within one point, and Erik Poulsen of Orono put in a free throw to tie it at 21-21. Poulsen nailed a 3-pointer later in the half to make it 26-24 and give Notre Dame the lead for good.

Poulsen finished with a team-high 22 points. Vjeko Jadric led UMPI with 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Moore put in 14 for the Owls. Milford’s Daniel Emerson added 11 points.

In Saturday’s second game, the Braves nearly pulled out the win in with good free-throw shooting down the stretch. Fisher led 70-59 but Husson reeled off a 9-0 run in the final two minutes of the game, capped by a Fletcher put-back with 17 seconds left that made it 70-68.

That was as close as the Braves would get. Fisher’s Wilfredo Perez calmly hit two free throws with 14 seconds left and Husson was unable to get off a final shot. Tony Jefferson sank a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Bradford’s Ryan Rivera tossed in 20 points for Husson.

Charlese was named the tournament MVP. Moore, Rivera, Anosiki, Jefferson and Jones were named to the all-tournament team.

(Sunday’s Championship)

Notre Dame (4-6) 55

Jones 9-4-22, Richards 4-0-11, Hoose 2-2-7, Goff 4-0-8, Poulsen 1-1-3, Loi, Bushway, Janisse 2-0-4

Fisher (7-0) 80

Jefferson 8-4-21, Perez 5-0-12, Charlese 6-1-16, Green 0-3-3, Anosike 7-3-17, Kimora, Hughes 1-0-2, Rue 2-0-5, J. Rollins 2-0-4, Guy

3-pt. goals: Richards 3, Hoose; Charles 3, Perez 2, Jefferson, Rue

Halftime: Fisher 38-20

(Saturday’s First Game)

Notre Dame 89

Jones 4-7-15, Richards 5-0-13, Hoose 3-5-13, Goff 10-0-20, Poulsen 7-3-22, Loi, Bushway 2-0-6, Janisse

Presque Isle 72

Jadric 10-2-23, Garreans 2-0-5, Moore 5-2-14, Dolley 3-2-9, Emerson 5-0-11, Smith, Hills 1-0-3, Bernard 3-1-7, Belyea, Roberson

3-pt. goals: Poulsen 5, Richards 3, Hoose 2, Bushway 2; Moore 2, Jadric, Garreans, Dolley, Emerson, Hills

Halftime: Notre Dame 48-40

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Fisher 75

Jefferson 5-4-17, Perez 4-3-14, Charlese 5-3-17, Green 4-2-11, Anosike 4-4-12, Rue 1-0-2, J. Rollins 0-2-2, Guy

Husson 68

Fletcher 5-1-11, Rivera 7-5-20, Lancaster 1-1-3, Pilsbury 5-3-15, Griffin 2-0-4, Armenakis, Galley 1-4-6, Cyr 4-0-9

3-pt. goals: Charles 4, Jefferson 3, Perez 3, Green; Pilsbury 2, Rivera, Cyr

Halftime: Fisher 36-28

BRAVES 90, OWLS 67

UM-Presque Isle (2-4) Husson (5-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jadric 2 5 0 1 4 Rivera 3 9 13

Garreans 3 7 0 0 6 Lancaster 3 8

Moore 12 16 8 11 32 Galley 0 2 0

Dolley 0 7 2 2 2 Cyr 10 12 28

Emerson 3 11 2 4 8 Griffin 6 8 14

Smith 0 0 0 0 0 Armenakis 0 0

Hills 0 1 0 0 0 Fletcher 6 11 3 5 15

Bernard 1 2 2 2 4 Pilsbury 4 10 2 2 11

Belyea 0 0 0 0 0 Cunningham 0 1

Roberson 5 9 0 0 11

Totals 26 58 14 20 67 32 59 16 23 90

UM-Presque Isle 25 67

Husson 51 90

3-pt. goals: UMPI (1-10): Roberson 1-1, Jadric 0-1, Moore 0-1, Garreans 0-2, Emerson 0-2, Dolley 0-3; Husson (10-24): Cyr 6-7, Rivera 2-4, Lancaster 1-3, Pilsbury 1-6, Galley 0-1, Cunningham 0-1, Fletcher 0-2

Attendance: 120