ORONO – For at least the first 22 minutes of Tuesday night’s basketball game between the NCAA Division I University of Maine and the NAIA Division II University of Maine-Machias men, it was sort of a good news-bad news thing.

The Black Bears’ play wasn’t that bad while that of the UMM Clippers was pretty good at Alfond Arena, where Maine hadn’t played in a month.

With the visiting Clippers not only staying close, but taking an early lead, Maine had to get back to basics by emphasizing its inside game, getting more aggressive, and wearing the slightly undermanned Clippers down as the game wore on.

The 5-8 Black Bears did just that as they harassed UMM on defense, pounded it into the paint on offense, took advantage of late Clippers’ foul trouble and pulled away for their second straight win, 80-56, heading into the America East conference portion of their schedule.

“We knew they were 29-4 and in the national tournament last year and they had some good players left over from that team, so we knew they’d come in and give us a challenge,” said Bears head coach Ted Woodward. “They did a great job mixing up their defenses, which we haven’t seen much of recently.”

The Bears eventually solved UMM’s morphing zone schemes and attacked the Clippers defensively more in the second half, helping cause 20 UMM turnovers with 14 steals. The Bears also asserted themselves more inside with a 19-12 rebounding edge in the second half (40-31 overall).

“I think we were reacting more than dictating in the first half, giving them too much room and having them take advantage of it,” said Woodward. “Then we just went back to the focus we had early, to really get out and pressure, push the basketball, post up strong, establish our inside guys, and play inside-out.”

Freshman forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia was the focal point of that inside-out emphasis and led the way for the Bears with his second career double-double (16 points and 12 rebounds).

“I think the harder we play, the more the opponent gets tired,” Bofia said. “We talked about being more consistent at halftime and bringing more intensity.”

“I just think we had a slow start, but in the second half, we stepped things up,” said senior guard Ernest Turner, who had 16 points, a game-high six assists, and six boards.

Junior guard Jon Sheets had 10 points and three steals.

“They wore us down and we made some unforced errors,” said UMM coach Brac Brady. “But I’m encouraged by how we’re doing so far and where we’ve come from. A game like this, even though we lost, is probably one that will give us some confidence.”

Senior forward Jeremiah Johnson led the way for the 2-8 Clippers with 22 points and sophomore guard Anthony McCoy chipped in with 11 points and two steals.

The Bears clawed out breathing room in the second half by scoring 11 of the first 15 points. Bofia and Olli Ahvenniemi scored 12 of Maine’s first 16 points and Ahvenniemi’s six points came on his only three shots of the game.

Maine jumped out to an 8-2 lead early, but UMM responded with a 7-0 scoring run and took its only lead (12-10) with 13 minutes left in the first half. For the next seven minutes, the teams were never separated by more than four points before Maine went on a 13-0 run and took a 10-point lead into halftime.

BLACK BEARS 80, CLIPPERS 56

UM-Machias (2-8) Maine (5-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Kardish 3 6 1 2 7 Ahvnnimi 3 6

Johnson 9 15 2 4 22 TchknBfa 8 12 0 2 16

Munro 1 7 0 4 2 R. Turner 4 10

Calligan 1 8 0 0 3 E. Turner 5 13 3 6 16

McCoy 3 5 4 4 11 Sheets 4 8 9

Arias 3 8 2 2 9 Keith 0 0 0

McGuire 0 0 0 0 0 Bruff 2 4 5

Morgan 0 0 0 0 0 Hight 3 3 8

Blake 1 3 0 0 2 Petkus 1 6 3

Scales 1 1 0 2

Cvnaugh 2 4 1 5

Harknell 0 2 0

Totals 21 52 9 16 56 Totals 33 63 12 80

UM-Machias 27 56

Maine 37 80

3-pt. goals – UM-Machias (5-13): Johnson 2-2, McCoy 1-1, Arias 1-4, Calligan 1-6; Maine (9-26): E. Turner 3-9, Hight 2-2, R. Turner 2-3, Sheets 1-5, Petkus 1-5, Harknell 0-2

Attendance: 956