Binghamton holds off Maine

loading...

ORONO – Talk about tilting at windmills.

Everything was stacked against the Binghamton University Bearcats as they came out of the locker room at halftime of Sunday afternoon’s road game against the University of Maine trailing 28-25.

Binghamton was 0-9 this season when trailing at halftime. Maine was 8-0 when leading.

The Bearcats were 0-8 in America East road games, 0-5 in games played on Sundays, 0-5 in games following a victory, and 0-3 all-time at Alfond Arena.

So much for statistics.

The Bearcats sealed off the paint, turned up the defensive pressure, and ratcheted up their shooting accuracy in the second half to make out much better than Don Quixote.

Binghamton notched a significant 67-60 victory over the Black Bears, who have now lost five of their last seven games.

“It’s been a test for us,” said Binghamton coach Al Walker. “We looked at this game as the game, if we could somehow pull out, that anything could happen for us the rest of the way. I think we have a chance to make some noise down the stretch.”

The Bearcats improve to 7-14 overall and 4-8 in America East play. Maine drops to 10-11 (5-7).

Maine pounced on the Bearcats in the first 10 minutes as it built a 20-9 lead. Junior guard Kevin Reed was on fire, hitting four baskets for 10 points.

Then Walker went to a bigger lineup, bringing in 7-foot center Nick Billings and 6-8 forward Alex Adediran.

The strategy helped the Bearcats make life extremely difficult for Maine’s inside game, which suddenly became non-existent as Billings either blocked or altered shots and offensive rebounds were almost impossible to grab.

“When Billings and Adediran came into the game, they changed defensively inside and I think that’s why they were able to pick it up,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “We weren’t able to score after that in the post like we did the first 10 minutes of the game, and that allowed them to extend their defense on the perimeter.”

After BU went on a 12-3 run to make it 23-21 Maine with three minutes left in the first half, the teams played to a virtual stalemate over the next 17 minutes. Neither team led by more than five points.

With six minutes to play, BU made a move and outscored Maine 6-3 to go up 58-52 with 31/2 minutes left. Ernest Turner answered with an eight-foot pull-up jumper and two foul shots. Binghamton’s backcourt got back into the act as Andre Heard canned a 15-foot turnaround jumper and Troy Hailey drew a foul, canning both shots.

Turner came back with a drive to the right block and a baby hook that went in, but was fouled hard, landed awkwardly on the floor and was helped off the court with an injured left shoulder.

Jason Hight took his foul shot, hit it, and Maine drew within three points (62-59) with 1:18 left. Maine had a chance to cut it further after BU’s Jordan Fithian missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Joe Campbell did the same thing with 52 seconds left. With Maine needing to foul, the Bearcats got more patient. Heard canned both ends of a 1-and-1 with 47 seconds to play and BU hit seven of nine in a 90-second span to help pull away for good.

Hailey led the way with 22 points and six rebounds. Heard had 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“We outrebounded them [35-33], but Heard’s and Hailey’s 3’s really hurt us,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward.

Reed led Maine with 21 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Turner had 14 points and Joe Campbell added 10. Campbell grabbed five rebounds for a career total of 500.

BEARCATS 67, BLACK BEARS 60

Binghamton (7-14) Maine (10-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hermenier 3 5 2 4 8 Flavin 4 11 8

Fithian 4 6 0 1 8 Campbell 3 10

Gordon 1 7 0 0 3 Turner 5 8 14

Hailey 7 12 4 5 22 Reed 8 15 21

Heard 8 17 2 2 20 Markwood 1 4

Jackson 0 3 0 0 0 Bruff 0 0 0

Casseus 0 1 0 0 0 Hight 0 0 1

Williams 0 0 0 0 0 Dubois 0 1 2

Adediran 0 1 0 0 0 Ahvenniemi 0 0

Billings 2 5 2 4 6

Totals 25 57 10 16 67 Totals 21 49 13 20 60

Binghamton 25 67

Maine 28 60

3-pt. goals – Binghamton (7-17): Hailey 4-7, Heard 2-4, Gordon 1-3, Casseus 0-1, Jackson 0-2; Maine (5-11): Reed 3-5, Turner 1-1, Markwood 1-3, Flavin 0-1, Campbell 0-1

Attendance: 2,329