STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Senior point guard Chris Markwood made a triumphant return to the hardwood Sunday aftternoon as he not only played, he started and helped lead the University of Maine Black Bears to their third highest scoring total this season.

The South Portland native, who has missed the last seven games with a broken left hand suffered in a home game against Stony Brook, returned to action against the very same Seawolves he suffered the injury against 31/2 weeks ago.

Markwood scored just four points, but dished out a game-high six assists. The Bears started the second half with an 11-3 run to break open a halftime tie and had four players score 12 points or more en route to a 76-63 victory over the Stony Brook at SB Sports Complex.

“It’s going to take him awhile to where he feels he can fully get back into it, but he’s a leader for us and he makes a big difference out there,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward.

Maine improves to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in America East play. Stony Brook is 7-12 and 2-8, respectively.

Maine’s Ernest Turner led all scorers with 22 points and also made five assists. Fellow junior guard Kevin Reed had 18 points, eight rebounds, and three steals.

Senior guard-forward Joe Campbell of Bangor scored 12 or more points for the third straight game with 14 and also grabbed six boards.

Senior forward Mark Flavin had 12 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

“It’s very difficult to cover both of them from the inside spots and cover Ernest and Kevin as well, so just having a fifth guy on the floor who can get it to them makes quite a difference,” Woodward said.

Stony Brook scored six of eight points during a 65-second span after Maine’s 11-3 second half run to shrink the deficit to four points (43-39) with 16 minutes left, but Maine responded with a 15-2 run over the next six minutes that effectively put the game away for the Bears. Turner scored seven straight points for the Bears to help fuel the big run.

“I thought we did a real good job passing the ball and defending in that stretch,” Woodward said. “Some guys got some really good looks and hit some key shots in that stretch.”

Maine held its own on the boards with a 30-29 edge overall and outshot the Seawolves 55.8 to 48 percent from the floor overall.

“I thought our rebounding effort was good. We were down 18-11 on the boards in the first half so we outrebounded them 19-11 in the second half,” Woodward said.

BLACK BEARS 76, SEAWOLVES 63

Maine (10-9) Stony Brook (7-12)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Flavin 5 8 2 3 12 Orfini 1 3 2

Campbell 5 6 3 5 14 Popoko 6 8 16

Turner 7 12 6 8 22 Kobryn 1 4 2

Reed 7 16 1 3 18 Hardy 1 9 2 4

Markwood 2 6 0 0 4 Santiago 4 14

Bruff 1 2 0 0 2 Feist 2 5 5

Hight 0 0 0 0 0 McCollum 2 5

Dubois 1 1 0 0 2 Spencer 7 12 15

Ahvenniemi 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 29 52 12 19 76 Totals 24 50 11 22 63

Maine 30 76

Stony Brook 30 63

3-pt. goals – Maine (6-12): Reed 3-7, Turner 2-3, Campbell 1-1, Markwood 0-1; Stony Brook (4-11): Popoko 2-3, Santiago 1-2, Feist 1-2, Orfini 0-1, Hardy 0-3

Attendance: 1,051