ORONO – The temperature at floor level in Alfond Arena was a bit on the nippy side Thursday night, but there was nothing cold about the University of Maine’s shooting, rebounding, or defensive pressure.

The Black Bears enjoyed a pronounced rebounding advantage, shot very well from both the foul line and the field, and harried the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks defensively en route to a solid 69-47 men’s college basketball exhibition victory.

The Black Bears also got balanced scoring as four players scored 11 or more points and four others had at least five.

Jermaine Jackson, who tore his anterior-cruciate ligament in Maine’s first game and missed the rest of the 2003-04 season, led the Bears with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field and had three of Maine’s 12 steals.

“I’ve been out most of the last two years, so yeah, there’s a lot of rust and it’s taken awhile, but every day’s getting better and better,” said the senior guard-forward. “We’re focusing on defense and putting all our energy there because the offense is going to come.”

South Portland’s Chris Markwood – now in his second season with Maine after transferring from Notre Dame – also had a solid outing with 11 points, three steals, and three assists.

Another transfer student – junior guard Ernest Turner from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas – scored 11, made two steals and had two assists.

The Bears outshot the Hawks 49 percent to 35.7 from the field and used a stifling man-to-man defense to limit them to just 17 shots in the second half.

“We tightened up some things a week later and I think our guys are starting to take some pride in what we do defensively,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “We did a nice job, I think, especially in the second half.”

Maine enjoyed a big rebounding edge: 16-6 on the offensive boards and 24-12 on the defensive side. Bangor’s Joe Campbell led the team in rebounds with eight.

“Since the Blue-White game, we’ve been working harder on rebounding drills and that’s an area we’re really concentrating on,” said Maine senior forward David Dubois, who had five points and four boards in 16 minutes off the bench.

Maine took control of the game for good with a 21-4 scoring run that lasted nine minutes and resulted in a 30-13 Bears lead with 6:55 left in the first half. Six different players scored during the run and the Hawks never got closer than 11 points the rest of the game.

“They’re a perennial top Division II team in the country and they finished in the top eight last year,” Woodward said. “They executed their offense beautifully, but I was happy we were able to take them out of some of their stuff.”

The Hawks’ lone double-digit scorer was junior forward Stacey Moragne with 19. Maine Central Institute postgrad alumnus James Whyte had nine points and four boards.

Junior guard Kevin Reed also paced Maine with 11 points.

BLACK BEARS 69, RIVER HAWKS 47

UMass Lowell University of Maine

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Whyte 4 8 0 0 9 Turner 4 13 11

Arnette 1 4 0 0 2 Flavin 2 5 6

Benn 0 2 2 2 2 Reed 4 7 0 11

El 1 3 0 2 2 Campbell 1 3 2

Moragne 8 13 0 0 19 Markwood 4 11

Saidybah 0 4 2 4 2 Sanchez 0 0 0

Chatman 0 3 4 4 4 Bruff 1 6 5

Mayne 0 1 0 0 0 Hight 0 0 0

Platt 0 0 1 2 1 Jackson 4 6 12

Stoczynski 1 4 2 2 4 Dubois 2 2 5

Ryan 0 0 0 0 0 Ahvenniemi 3 3 6

Monfort 0 0 2 2 2 Harknell 0 0

Totals 15 42 13 18 47 25 51 12 18 69

UMass Lowell 23 47

University of Maine 37 69

3-pt. goals – UMass Lowell 4-15 (Moragne 3-5, Whyte 1-4, Arnette 0-1, Saidybah 0-1, Chatman 0-1, Stoczynski 0-3); Maine 7-15 (Reed 3-6, Jackson 2-4, Turner 1-2, Markwood 1-2, Campbell 0-1)

Attendance: 984