BANGOR – For a fleeting moment, the clouds parted and a glimmer of hope emerged for the Eastern Maine Community College men’s basketball team.

Well, until Corey Bingham played weather man and literally rained down three 3-pointers in a two-minute stretch that all but washed away the Golden Eagles’ hopes of an improbable comeback in the Lee Academy Postgrads’ 113-52 victory at Johnston Gym Monday night.

Bingham bombed away from the perimeter and beyond to the tune of seven 3-pointers (six in the second half) and 23 total points to spark a 12-0 run after EMCC scored the first six points of the second half.

The 6-6 EMCC Golden Eagles went into halftime down 47-23 and seemed to have momentum for the first time in the game in the first four minutes of the second half, but then Bingham began blasting from 20, 22, 25 and 26 feet away.

“What do you tell your team?” said EMCC coach Bill Tracy. “That’s all you can do when a guy’s shooting that well. If you try to double-team him, they’ll just pull somebody off and find the open guy.

“Their quickness bothered us. We tried to pack it in from the beginning, but even then we couldn’t control them and then of course you had number 12 [Bingham] who was just jacking them in from everywhere.”

Bingham hit three straight and four overall in 90 seconds to turn a 61-36 lead with 14 minutes left into a 75-38 advantage with 12:06 to go.

“I was very surprised there wasn’t anyone on me sometimes. I was just putting them up there and letting ’em rip,” said the 6-foot-3 guard from Lynn, Mass., who is being recruited by UNLV, Virginia, St. John’s and Marquette among others. “As long as I get a good look, I’m going to make the shot. I’m pretty much automatic if you leave me open.”

Bingham wasn’t Tracy’s only pounding headache. While Bingham was hitting from outside, 6-5 forward Tauras Skripkauskas, a former guard from Gurnee, Ill., was simply automatic from the paint and the baseline.

Skripkauskas went 6-for-6 from the field in the second half and 8-for-10 overall en route to a 17-point, 12-rebound effort.

“Right now I’m working on my post-up game because I grew 8 inches the last year,” said the native Lithuanian.

The game was a satisfying one for Lee coach Brian McDormand, who is still molding the first-year team into a cohesive unit day by day.

“The hard part is most of our guys are street players and then they come in here where we’re trying to get them organized into a system,” explained, McDormand, whose team is now 6-6. “As you can see, they’re taking to the task and starting to get into form and learning their roles, but it’s still a work in progress.”

Lee’s Corey Orgias had the best all-around game with 18 points, eight boards and six assists. Kenyale Evans chipped in with 12 points.

Jake Manner of Frankfort led the Eagles with a game-high 27 points. He also had six rebounds. Gorham’s Miles Lindhal had eight points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.

LEE POSTGRADS 113, EAGLES 52

Lee Academy (6-6) Eastern Maine CC (6-6)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Harper 0 0 0 0 0 Ofili 0 3 1

Malabet 2 7 0 0 4 Erickson 3 8

Bingham 8 14 0 0 23 Keezer 1 10 3

Young 4 7 0 0 9 O. Lindhal 1 2

Starling 4 7 0 0 8 Bones 1 11 3

Ebanks 1 2 0 0 2 Manner 12 21 27

Whittaker 1 2 0 0 2 M. Lindhal 3 8

Meadors 3 6 0 0 7 Jefferson 0 0

Orgias 7 10 4 4 18

Folkes 4 6 1 1 9

Evans 6 9 0 1 12

Skripkauskas 8 10 0 0 17

Both 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 49 82 5 6 113 Totals 21 63 17 52

Lee Postgrads 47 113

EMCC 23 52

3-pt. goals – Lee (10-21): Bingham 7-12, Skripkauskas 1-1, Young 1-1, Meadors 1-3, Orgias 0-1, Malabet 0-3; EMCC (4-11): Erickson 2-5, Manner 1-1, M. Lindhal 1-2, Bones 0-3

Attendance: 87