Tibbetts gives UM big lift Campbell scores 20 to sink Binghamton

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VESTAL, N.Y. – When the season began, University of Maine coach John Giannini had hoped that senior Todd Tibbetts would provide some perimeter offensive firepower for the Black Bears.

After shooting just 4-for-30 from beyond the 3-point stripe over the season’s first nine games, Tibbetts had gone eight games without attempting a long-range jumper.

On Sunday, Giannini inserted Tibbetts into the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 30 in order to send a message to junior Clayton Brown, who has been struggling. And Tibbetts – who didn’t play in the last two UMaine games – responded.

The 6-foot-7 forward surpassed his career-high with 10 first-half points and finished with 15 points and five rebounds to help spark the Bears to a 83-60 win over Binghamton at West Gymnasium.

“I’ve told people for years that Todd has improved greatly and did a great job for us in practice, and this is probably the first time that people could see what I was talking about,” Giannini said.

Joe Campbell of Bangor added 14 first-half points – which also surpassed his previous career-high – and finished with a game-high 20. He made 5-of-6 attempts from behind the 3-point line and grabbed six rebounds.

Giannini said he hoped Tibbetts continues to play the way he did on Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t want to get too excited about his performance because I feel that he should play more this way than he has in some of his other performances,” Giannini said.UMaine improves to 6-11, 3-3 in America East play. Binghamton drops to 6-11, 3-4.

Justin Rowe pitched in with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots for Maine while Errick Greene added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists and Derrick Jackson scored 13 to go with seven assists.

UMaine took a 38-27 lead into intermission and shot a sizzling 69.6 percent from the floor in the second half while building a lead that peaked at 30 points midway through the period.

The Bears wound up shooting 62.5 percent for the game, after connecting on just 32.6 percent of their shots in a Thursday night loss to Hartford. Of the seven Black Bears who attempted shots against Binghamton, only Jackson (5-for-11) failed to shoot 50 percent from the floor.

“There was no difference between the shots that we took in this game and the shots we took against Hartford,” Giannini said. “It’s just that you’re gonna shoot great some nights and horrible other nights. I never get too concerned about shooting because I know that’s something that comes and goes.”

But after scoring just 23 points in the first half against Hartford and following that up with a 24-point second-half performance, Giannini said he did see a difference in his team before Sunday’s game.

“Sometimes you just look at key players in practice and see that they’re ready to play, and some days you don’t see the same energy and focus,” said Giannini, who expected his team to play well after the way they’d practiced since Thursday.

Jeffrey St. Fort scored 12 to lead the Bearcats. Nick Billings added 11 and blocked four shots.

BLACK BEARS 83, BEARCATS 60

Maine (6-11) Binghamton (6-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tibbetts 5 7 2 2 15 Daws 3 9 9

Campbell 6 8 3 3 20 St. Fort 6 10 0 0 12

Rowe 6 9 2 5 14 Ooms 2 6 0 4

Jackson 5 11 2 4 13 Watson 0 5 0

Greene 6 11 0 0 13 Baker 2 5 6

Wallingford 0 0 0 0 0 Wright 3 8 9

Petkus 1 1 0 0 3 Washington 0 0

Flavin 0 0 0 0 0 Hannan 0 4 2

Dubois 0 0 0 0 0 Green 2 9 5

Brown 1 1 3 3 5 Ocitti 1 1 2

Billings 5 8 11

Totals 30 48 12 17 83 Totals 24 65 60

Maine 38 83

Binghamton 27 60

3-pt. goals: Maine (11-19): Tibbetts 3-5, Campbell 5-6, Jackson 1-4, Greene 1-3, Petkus 1-1; Binghamton (7-24): Daws 3-5, St. Fort 0-1, Ooms 0-1, Watson 0-3, Baker 2-4, Wright 2-6, Hannan 0-2, Green 0-2

Attendance: 936