ORONO – Maybe it was a result of the plunging temperature at Alfond Arena on Saturday afternoon, but the University of Maine’s second-half foul shooting was as cold as the chilly facility.

Luckily for the Black Bears, Chris Bruff and Kevin Reed got hot at the right times to lead Maine to a 69-64 men’s basketball victory over the Binghamton University Bearcats.

Despite shooting 41 percent from the floor and hitting just nine of 22 free throws in the game’s final 11 minutes, the Bears were able to snap a six-game losing streak and notch their first America East conference win.

Even the premature loss of Bruff, who went to the bench for good with his fourth foul with 1:13 left in the game, and the absence of starting center Brian Andre, out with stomach flu, failed to stop the Bears.

“These guys have been through a lot already this season and they’re not going to let themselves get down,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward, whose Bears are now 6-11 overall and 1-4 in AE play. “When you come off a couple of hard losses, it’s sometimes tough to come back and bounce back strong, especially 36 hours later, but these guys have done a good job in this stretch.”

Bruff, who was erroneously assessed a fifth foul despite having just four, still managed to lead the Bears with his first career double-double: 19 points and 12 rebounds.

“There was some confusion. We thought I had four fouls, but I guess the official book said I had five,” Bruff said with a wry smile. “I guess you can’t argue with the official book, so I had to sit down.”

Rather than fold with their most productive inside player on the bench and a hex on their foul shooting, the Bears continued to push the ball inside and draw fouls.

“These guys are good foul shooters. These things happen and they understood it was still about defense and rebounding,” Woodward said. “We were able to get the stops and we knew we’d be able to get back to the line and have opportunities.”

Maine hit five of eight from the line after Bruff’s departure to hold off the Bearcats, now 8-9 overall and 1-4 in league play.

“I guess we’ve got to get in the gym and shoot some free throws, specifically this gym. That would be nice,” Reed said.

Reed rebounded from a two-point, 1-for-12 shooting game against Albany Thursday to can 4-of-7 3-pointers en route to 19 points and six rebounds. He was so effective the Bearcats even tried a box-and-one defense on him.

“It was different. I haven’t seen that since high school, I think,” said the senior guard. “I think it shows us we have other guys who can do other things. I think we have a lot of weapons on this team.”

Weapons such as senior guard Jon Sheets, who scored 12 points and dished out a game-high six assists, and freshman guard Junior Bernal, who had eight points and six boards.

And guys such as Olli Ahvenniemi, who won’t catch your eye on the box score but provided valuable minutes.

“I think he played with confidence and energy today. He really gave us a jumpstart,” Woodward said. “He did things that really helped our team and his leadership has been tremendous.”

The 6-foot-10 Ahvenniemi scored only two points, but had two big blocked shots, two steals, and even an assist.

As cold as they were from the line, the Bears couldn’t have been much hotter from the field, shooting a sizzling 51.1 percent for the game to Binghamton’s 34.4. Maine also outrebounded the Bearcats 30-18 on the defensive boards and 40-32 overall.

Maine never trailed or was tied in the second half.

Freshman forward Lazar Trifunovic led the Bearcats with 14 points and eight rebounds. Troy Hailey also had 14 points, and Duane James scored 11 off the bench to go with six rebounds.

BLACK BEARS 69, BEARCATS 64

Binghamton (8-9) Maine (6-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Trifunovic 6 18 2 2 14 Bruff 8 12 19

Mntgmery 1 1 2 4 4 Ahvennmi 1 2

Proctor 1 8 2 2 5 Sheets 4 9 12

Gordon 3 8 1 2 9 Bernal 3 4 8

Hailey 4 11 3 4 14 Reed 6 11 19

Jackson 1 2 0 0 2 Socoby 1 5 6

Forbes 1 8 3 4 5 Cook 0 1 0

James 5 8 0 0 11 Cavangh 0 0 0

Kovacevic 0 0 0 0 0 Bofia 1 4 3

Totals 22 64 13 18 64 Totals 24 47 16 30 69

Binghamton 33 64

Maine 35 69

3-pt. goals – Binghamton (7-26): Hailey 3-10, Gordon 2-6, James 1-2, Proctor 1-6, Jackson 0-1, Forbes 0-1; Maine (5-13): Reed 4-7, Sheets 1-4, Socoby 0-2

Attendance: 1,000 (est.)