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VESTAL, N.Y. – Bruised, battered, and literally broken, Binghamton’s Bearcats not only refused to panic, they refused to lose in Saturday afternoon’s America East Tournament quarterfinal against Maine.
Second-seeded Binghamton used team depth and an all-tournament performance from one of its starters to beat back a second-half rally by No. 7 Maine and defeat the Black Bears for the third time this season, 71-62 at Binghamton University’s Events Center.
With starting forward and Maine nemesis Sebastian Hermenier, Binghamton’s top rebounder and No. 2 scorer, out of the lineup with a recently diagnosed broken foot and two other regulars banged up or sick, the Bearcats’ enviable team depth was really put to the test.
In Hermenier’s stead, freshman forward Ian Milne – a Winkler, Manitoba, native who was a high school classmate of ex-Maine hockey player Dustin Penner – made his ninth start of the season and responded with 13 points and five rebounds, but someone else played Hermenier’s role as Black Bear killer. Senior guard Andre Heard scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to go with seven rebounds, four steals (also a game high), and two assists.
“We have Andre Heard and that’s the difference,” said coach Al Walker, whose Bearcats improved to 16-12. “He got the ball, made plays, went to the free-throw line, and made free throws.”
Heard also punctuated the game’s key stretch with a thunderous dunk from the left block in the midst of a 10-0 run that gave Binghamton the momentum for good.
“Everybody wants to see a slam dunk now and then,” Heard said with a laugh. “It got us a little riled up and we just turned up the pressure a little bit on them.”
That they did. Maine had used a 13-6 scoring run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to pull within a point of the Bearcats (44-43) with 9:16 to play. Heard started the run meekly enough by hitting the front end of a 1-and-1 with 7:14 to go, then gave the Bearcats a 52-45 lead with his dunk, which came 48 seconds after Maine’s Rashard Turner was called for an offensive foul and 1:42 before Troy Hailey – another Maine pain the last two seasons – delivered the coup de grace with a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it a 10-point lead.
The Bears would cut the deficit to six points with 1:55 left, but a 6-0 Bearcats run over the next 1:20 effectively snuffed out Maine’s comeback hopes.
“They made some key plays at the right time,” said Turner, who led the 12-16 Bears with 19 points and five assists. “This time of year, you have to have guys make plays and that’s what they did.”
Binghamton had several guys do that, including junior guard Steve Proctor, who hit two of three 3-pointers and played 14 minutes despite missing three days of practice with pneumonia, and junior forward Duane James, who had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) off the bench. James had returned to practice Tuesday after missing a week of action due to a concussion.
“I think that’s one of the reasons they’re as good as they are is they have great depth,” Maine coach Ted Woodward said. “Sure, it hurts them not having him out there, but we knew they were a team in particular that was deep enough to handle those kinds of problems.”
Maine’s Ernest Turner had 15 points before fouling out with 27 seconds left.
“They did a lot of switching, especially when I was coming off screens,” Turner said. “They played great defense.”
Fellow senior guard Freddy Petkus tallied 11 points and four rebounds in his final college game. Junior center Olli Ahvenniemi had six points, seven boards, and two blocked shots.
Binghamton outrebounded Maine 38-33 and each team committed 16 turnovers, but the Bearcats had 11 steals compared to three by Maine.
BEARCATS 71, BLACK BEARS 62
Maine (12-16) Binghamton (16-12)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Ahveniemi 2 2 2 2 6 Milne 5 9 13
Bofia 2 7 1 2 5 Olomo 0 2 2
R. Turner 6 15 4 6 19 Gordon 0 5 4
E. Turner 4 12 5 6 15 Hailey 3 6 9
Sheets 2 6 1 2 6 Heard 6 18 10 11 24
Bruff 0 2 0 1 0 Jackson 0 3 0
Hight 0 0 0 0 0 Proctor 2 3 6
Petkus 3 8 3 3 11 James 5 7 13
Fithian 0 0 0 0
Totals 19 52 16 22 62 Totals 21 53 22 26 71
Maine 21 62
Binghamton 25 71
3-pt. goals – Maine (8-23): R. Turner 3-10, E. Turner 2-5, Sheets 1-4, Petkus 2-4; Binghamton (7-21): Milne 1-3, Hailey 2-3, Heard 2-8, Gordon 0-2, Jackson 0-2, Proctor 2-3
Attendance: 4,335
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