UMaine buffaloes Bearcats Black Bears avenge loss at Binghamton

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ORONO – If any comparisons can be drawn between the University of Maine men’s basketball team and the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, Sunday was Maine’s “Buffalo” game.

The Black Bears soundly thrashed Binghamton University 84-51 in a much-anticipated rematch with the Bearcats, who notched a comfortable 14-point win in their last meeting.

After losing 31-0 to Buffalo in week one of the NFL season, New England beat the Bills 31-0 16 weeks later.

How completely dominating was this victory? Well, consider the following factors:

. Six Maine players finished with 10 points or more. None of the Bearcats scored more than nine points.

. Maine shot a scalding 50.8 percent from the field despite subpar shooting in the final 51/2 minutes, when both teams emptied their benches. Binghamton shot just 29 percent.

. Despite a size disadvantage, the Black Bears outrebounded the Bearcats 40-38.

. Maine point guard Eric Dobson dished out a game-high six assists en route to a team total of 16. Binghamton had three.

. This was Binghamton’s worst loss this season, eclipsing even a 32-point drubbing against No. 17 Kansas at Lawrence, Kan., on Dec. 29. It was the largest margin of victory for Maine, which also downed Colby College by 33 points on Dec. 23.

This game was a long time coming for the Bears, who have had their share of frustrating losses and wins already.

“We’ve been waiting for this one because we felt we played badly at their place,” said South Portland’s Chris Markwood, who posted a [college] career-high 13 points to go with five assists.

Maine is now 14-7 overall and 8-4 in America East play while Binghamton is 10-13 (6-6).

So how did Maine do it? Defense, effort and determination.

“I like this team very much,” said Maine coach John Giannini. “I coach them, but I also root for them because they work very hard. You don’t like to use the word perfect, but they played a nearly perfect half today. Everyone did well.”

Sophomore guard Kevin Reed led the way offensively with 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. The 6-foot-2 guard also typified Maine’s dogged effort on the boards by grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.

“Yeah, this was fun. When everyone’s executing like we did today, it’s a lot of fun to play in a game like this,” said Reed, who scored Maine’s first eight points of the second half. “I just tried to get into the flow of the game and let it come to me. I hit that 3 just before halftime and that helped my confidence.”

Reed’s 3-pointer from the left of the key with a second left in the first half capped a 22-3 Maine run that permanently wrested momentum away from the Bearcats.

Bangor’s Joe Campbell had 10 points and seven rebounds while Mark Flavin scored 10 while helping to hold all-conference center Nick Billings to nine points and six boards. Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov had 10 points off the bench.

“Flavin didn’t even start against us at our place, so yeah, he’s probably their most improved player,” said Bearcats coach Al Walker.

BLACK BEARS 84, BEARCATS 51

Binghamton (10-13) Maine men (14-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hermenier 1 5 4 4 6 Flavin 3 7 10

Billings 4 12 1 3 9 Campbell 3 10

Hailey 3 10 2 2 9 Dobson 5 13 15

Carter 2 8 2 2 7 Reed 7 12 19

Williams 0 1 0 0 0 Markwood 5 13

Todd 0 2 0 0 0 Wallingford 0 1 0

Watson 0 4 0 1 0 Hadjisotirov 4 10

Schultz 0 1 2 2 2 Petkus 0 1 0

Karis 0 1 0 0 0 Dubois 0 1 0

Kloostra 1 1 0 0 2 Bruff 1 4 2

Casseus 0 4 0 0 0 Ahvenniemi 2 5

White 2 5 1 2 6

Adediran 4 5 0 0 8

Olomo 1 3 0 0 2

Totals 18 62 12 16 51 30 59 16 21 84

3-pt. goals ? Binghamton (3-20): White 1-4, Hailey 1-5, Carter 1-5, Hermenier 0-1, Williams 0-1, Karis 0-1, Casseus 0-1, Watson 0-2; Maine (8-18): Reed 4-6, Hadjisotirov 4-6, Hadjisotirov 2-3, Campbell 1-2, Dobson 1-4, Markwood 0-1, Petkus 0-1, Bruff 0-1

Binghamton 21 51

Maine 41 84

Attendance: 2,106