ORONO – It was an all-too familiar sight for fans who have seen their share of Maine-Northeastern University men’s basketball games the last couple years.

The difference was the guy making the buzzer-beating 3-pointer from NBA range was NU’s Bennet Davis, not quicksilver point guard and scoring machine Jose Juan Barea.

And rather than coming in the final moments of the game, this one came 35 seconds into Sunday afternoon’s game. Not only did Maine have an answer for that – in the form of Kevin Reed’s shot-clock buzzer-beater 40 seconds later – but the Bears also had answers for Barea, fellow NU sharpshooter Marcus Barnes, and just about anything else the Huskies could throw at them.

The Black Bears took a big lead midway through the game, watched as the Huskies mushed back to take their first lead since Davis’ shot, and then rode the sterling inside play of Mark Flavin along with almost unerring foul shooting all the way to a 67-60 victory.

The win broke NU’s four-game win streak, Maine’s three-game losing skid vs. NU, Maine’s two-game conference losing streak, and improved the Bears’ record to 9-8 overall and 4-4 in America East play.

“We were disappointed in our effort at Hartford and we haven’t said that very much the last two years,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “I think that motivated us in practice and we were anxious to get back today.”

Northeastern moves to 10-7 overall and 6-2 in America East.

“We got whipped today in every phase. Their guards dominated us off the dribble, we didn’t rebound at all and they just beat us up today,” said Huskies coach Ron Everhart. “I think that’s the worst start to a basketball game I think we’ve ever had in my four years here and I think you have to give Maine all the credit in the world for making it that way.”

Maine used runs of 10-0 and 9-0 to take a 21-9 lead with 11:02 left in the first half and outscored NU 8-0 late in the half to take a 36-22 lead into halftime.

The runs seemingly served as wakeup calls for the Huskies, who scored the first eight points of the second half during a 21-4 run that gave them a 43-30 lead with 11:30 to play.

That’s when senior forward Flavin answered the bell for Maine. Flavin scored from the low post on a spin move following a pump-fake to tie the game (43-43) with 101/2 minutes left.

“The last couple practices I’ve had, I’ve been feeling pretty confident so I just tried to keep the same mindset and get as low and deep in the post as I could,” said Flavin, who finished with a game-high 19 points while also tallying eight rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal.

“Flavin was a real big difference in the second half,” Everhart said. “He really got the ball to the basket and did a nice job down low on us. He’s always played well against us.”

Flavin scored on back-to-back, traditional three-point plays to fuel a 10-0 Maine run and also scored 10 of Maine’s 18 points during a crucial seven-minute span when the Bears retook the lead for good.

“We’ve had some good stretches, but we’ve made some mistakes at key times that have kept us from winning,” said Woodward. “We didn’t make those kinds of mistakes at those times today.”

For the tenth time this season, four Maine players scored 10 or more points. Ernest Turner scored 16 to go with five assists, fellow junior guard Kevin Reed had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Joe Campbell had 12 points and eight boards.

Maine outrebounded the Huskies 45-28 overall and outshot them 42.9 to 35 percent from the field to overcome 24 turnovers – their third-highest total this season.

Maine’s guard rotation of Reed, Turner and Westbrook’s Jason Hight held Bear-killer Barea to 18 points – his lowest total vs. Maine – and Barnes to 14 on combined 26.3 percent (10-for-38) shooting.

BLACK BEARS 67, HUSKIES 60

Northeastern (10-7) Maine (9-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

B. Davis 4 8 3 4 12 Flavin 8 16 19

Cole 1 2 0 0 2 Dubois 0 0 0 0

Barnes 3 14 7 10 14 Campbell 4 10 3 4 12

Barea 7 24 2 2 18 Turner 6 14 16

Kelly 1 2 0 0 2 Reed 4 11 13

Martinez 1 2 0 0 3 Bruff 1 2 2

A. Davis 2 5 0 0 5 Hight 0 2 3

Farmer 0 0 0 0 0 Ahvenniemi 1 2

James 1 2 0 0 2

Washington 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 21 60 12 16 60 Totals 24 56 15 17 67

Northeastern 22 60

Maine 36 67

3-pt. goals – Northeastern (6-21): Barea 2-8, B. Davis 1-1, Martinez 1-1, A. Davis 1-3, Barnes 1-7, Kelly 0-1; Maine (4-12): Reed 3-5, Campbell 1-3, Flavin 0-2, Turner 0-2

Attendance: 1,678