DURHAM, N.H. – There was plenty of fog swirling outside Lundholm Gymnasium on Thursday night, but the University of Maine men’s basketball team wasn’t in one as the Black Bears turned a close game into a laugher with their biggest scoring run of the season late in the first half.

Thanks in large part to the late heroics of University of New Hampshire freshman guard Chris Vetrano, who went on his own personal scoring run to make the margin of victory respectable, Maine’s rout would look closer than it actually was with a 70-65 victory.

Maine outscored UNH 22-0 during a 71/2-minute span in the last nine minutes of the first half.

“This is a pretty talented team that maybe needed one more slap in the face,” said UNH coach Phil Rowe. “It was a wakeup call by our opponent. We were fine the first 10 minutes and then they went on a little bit of a run – well, a mountain slide of a run – and it killed us.”

Maine’s fourth straight win over the Wildcats improved the Black Bears to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in America East play. UNH dipped to 5-9 (1-4).

Junior guard Ernest Turner had a first half to remember, shooting a blistering 85.7 percent (6 for 7) from the floor, and finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the Bears.

“I’ve been working every day on my shooting – before practice, after practice – and the players were looking for me. … And I was hitting ’em,” Turner said.

Kevin Reed had an outstanding all-around effort with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists, and a career-high seven steals. Senior swingman Jermaine Jackson came off the bench for 10 points.

“Kevin just does everything for us,” Maine coach Ted Woodward said. “He’s just an absolute warrior for us. The thing with those seven steals is our team was playing great defense to allow him to make them, so I really feel like he shares those seven with his teammates.”

In his first collegiate start for Maine, Westbrook’s Jason Hight finished with nine points, four assists and two steals.

“Yeah, I had butterflies a little bit before the game. I always get them before a game, but as soon as the ball goes up, it settles down,” Hight said.

The freshman point guard committed four turnovers in 31 minutes – a career high.

“Jay has been someone playing backup point guard for us often in practice and we felt like if Chris [Markwood] wasn’t there, we’d push the next person up in his spot and he’s stepped up and done an admirable job,” Woodward said.

Vetrano outscored Maine 10-2 on his own during a 21/2-minute span in the final four minutes en route to 13 total.

Senior center and captain Ben Sturgill, who is playing his second game since breaking his jaw and getting it wired, led UNH with 18 points while also grabbing six rebounds.

“You saw what we can do when we were battling in the second half, but those eight minutes were really frustrating,” Sturgill said. “I think it was just a lack of focus.”

Craig Walls had 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. After scoring two points and getting called for a foul late in the first half, UNH leading scorer Blagov Janev did not play in the second half. Rowe said it was a coach’s decision and not injury-related.

Maine shot 48.1 percent for the game and committed 15 turnovers to UNH’s 21. UNH outrebounded the Bears 43-27.

BLACK BEARS 70, WILDCATS 65

Maine (8-6) UNH (5-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Turner 8 12 0 1 21 Sturgill 7 13 4 6 18

Hight 3 5 1 3 9 Vetrano 5 10 13

Flavin 3 3 2 2 8 Janev 1 3 2

Reed 3 11 4 6 12 Anderson 3 5 6

Campbell 4 8 0 0 8 Christensen 2 6

Bruff 0 0 2 2 2 Karalis 0 4 2

Jackson 4 7 1 2 10 Liddell 0 2 0

Dubois 0 3 0 0 0 Walls 7 9 15

Ahvenniemi 0 3 0 0 0 Odom 1 5 3

Totals 25 52 10 16 70 Totals 26 58 17 65

Maine 45 70

New Hampshire 25 65

3-pt. goals – Maine (10-22): Turner 5-7, Hight 2-2, Reed 2-9, Campbell 0-1, Jackson 1-3; New Hampshire (4-17): Vetrano 3-6, Janev 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Christensen 0-3, Karalis 0-3, Odom 1-3

Attendance: 1,005