ORONO – In notching their fifth straight victory, the Binghamton University Bearcats handed the University of Maine men their fifth straight home loss at Alfond Arena Sunday afternoon.

The Bearcats set the tone early in a very physical game, put the clamps on Maine’s transition game throughout, and scored the last eight points to thwart a late Maine run and notch a 69-58 America East conference win.

“I think this is the most physical game we’ve played this year,” said Maine junior guard Kaimondre Owes, who led the Bears with 15 points. “We got a lot of rebounds, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.

“The refs let us play and that showed who was the toughest team. That was them today.”

Maine, now 6-14 overall and 2-5 in league play, outrebounded Binghamton 16-6 on the offensive boards and 40-27 overall, but Binghamton still scored more points (28 to 20) in the paint.

The Bearcats’ strategy of ganging up on Brian Andre paid off handsomely as they limited Maine’s 6-foot-9, 300-pound center to three shots, five points and two rebounds (both offensive) before he fouled out with 6:36 left to play.

“We tried to ball pressure against them and take them out of their high-low game because their big kid is huge and can score,” said coach Kevin Broadus, whose Bearcats are 10-10 overall and 6-2 in the league. “We had to use [6-8 center Giovanni] Olomo to body up on him and be physical.”

Broadus also used 6-11 center Jaan Montgomery, 6-2 forward Lazar Trifunovic, and 6-6 forward Reggie Fuller to guard Andre.

Meanwhile, Maine had no answer for Trifunovic as Binghamton’s leading scorer scored nine points in the first half and finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

“I was just making my shots more in the second half,” Trifunovic said. “I just felt like they had trouble guarding me and that gave me more confidence.”

“We try to get him on everybody and anybody defensively,” Broadus said. “And when he’s on, we’re on and we go to him. We make that no secret. He’s our guy.”

Despite Maine’s slow start (Binghamton scored seven straight in the first 78 seconds) and finish in the second half, the Bears made a charge and closed what had been a 12-point deficit to three with 3:04 left. Owes spotted up for a game-tying 3-pointer to the left of the key, but missed and Trifunovic cashed in on a Maine foul with two free throws to start Binghamton’s game-ending 8-0 run.

“They just made more plays when they needed to, and those are the kinds of plays you have to make, especially down the stretch, to win games like this,” said Maine sophomore guard Junior Bernal, who finished with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Binghamton senior Mike Gordon was a case study in ideal point guard play as he scored 13 points, made six steals, and dished out a game-high six assists without making a single turnover.

“Mike Gordon is an all-conference caliber player and you only have to look at his numbers today to see why,” Maine coach Ted Woodward said. “He did a lot of great things for them.”

Freshman Sean McNally of Gardiner continued his solid play of late for the Bears with 10 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

990-8205

BEARCATS 69, BLACK BEARS 58

Binghamton (10-10) Maine men (6-14)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Trifunovic 9 20 8 8 26 Socoby 1 7 8

Forbes 0 6 4 5 4 Bofia 2 7 7

Fuller 0 0 0 0 0 Cook 1 3 2

Herbert 0 1 2 2 2 Bernal 4 13 9

Gordon 6 8 0 1 13 Owes 3 10 15

Camara 0 1 0 1 0 Barnies 0 0 0

Jackson 6 10 1 2 15 McNally 3 4 10

Olomo 1 1 0 0 2 Andre 1 3 5

Lukusa 2 4 2 2 7 Peay 1 2 2

Mntgmry 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 24 51 17 21 69 Totals 16 49 21 30 58

Binghamton 30 69

Maine 28 58

3-pt. goals – Binghamton (4-10): Jackson 2-3, Gordon 1-2, Lukusa 1-2, Camara 0-1, Forbes 0-2; Maine (5-15): Owes 3-5, Bofia 1-4, Socoby 1-5, Bernal 0-1

Attendance: 1,685 (tickets issued)