DURHAM, N.H. – It’s the time of the season when basketball teams need to start putting it all together to make a run at the conference championship.

The University of Maine men were reminded of that fact in Wednesday’s loss to Boston University but showed their resolve Saturday afternoon against New Hampshire.

The Black Bears took control of the game early, then let their defense do the talking during a key stretch of the second half while posting a 65-56 America East victory at Lundholm Gymnasium.

Coach Ted Woodward’s team (11-12, 6-5 AE) played sound defense, dominated the rebounding action, and exhibited outstanding offensive balance while winning for the sixth time in its last seven games.

“It was a huge win,” said senior co-captain Kevin Reed, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. “Coming off last week’s loss, I think everybody had a bitter taste in their mouth. We just wanted to get back out on the court as soon as possible and get another win.”

Reed also hit a 3-pointer, moving him into fourth place on the America East career list with 292.

The Bears demonstrated how they have benefited from playing so many hard-fought games. UMaine withstood a charge by New Hampshire (8-16, 4-7 AE) during the first eight minutes of the second half.

The Wildcats got as close as one point and three times were within two, only to have the Bears answer each of the challenges.

“They’re going to make a run, we know that,” said senior Jon Sheets, who led UMaine with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. “We just kept playing defense, kept getting to the boards and just not let them get over that hump. Since we’ve been in those situations before, we’ve learned from it.”

The hosts appeared to be regaining the momentum when Jermaine Anderson (game-high 19 points) threw in a nifty scoop shot on the front end of a three-point play that cut the Bears’ lead to 44-42 with 12 minutes left.

Instead, UMaine came out of the media timeout and held UNH scoreless for six minutes, 17 seconds. The resulting 13-0 surge gave the visitors a commanding 57-42 advantage with 6:14 to play.

The Wildcats went 0-for-6 and committed three of their seven total turnovers during that key stretch.

“I just felt like we spoke on defense, always communicated,” said UMaine freshman Junior Bernal (12 points). “That’s what helped our defense run smoothly.”

Philip Tchekane Bofia opened the Bears’ clinching run with a 14-foot jumper. Mark Socoby of Bangor followed with a 10-footer from the paint, then Sheets came off a screen and buried a 3-pointer that made it 51-42.

Chris Bruff, who muscled down a game-best 14 rebounds, kept the run going with a short turnaround shot off the glass. Bernal capped it with a bucket from underneath and a tip-in off a Reed miss.

UMaine played better defense than in the first meeting at Orono, a 63-58 UNH victory.

“I do think we have taken a lot more pride in our defense since that point,” Woodward said. “I think that’s been a critical thing for us.”

The Wildcats also were playing without Mike Christiansen (13.1 ppg), who has missed nine games with a broken foot.

Bruff’s determination on the boards helped UMaine grab a 41-26 rebounding advantage. The Bears, who committed only eight turnovers, also received eight points and two blocked shots from Ollie Ahvenniemi.

Tyreece Gibbs scored 14 points for UNH while Blagoj Janev was limited to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting. Radar Onguetou added eight points and eight rebounds.

The Bears had taken the lead for good with a 14-2 first-half flurry. Leading 17-13, Sheets nailed a 3-pointer, Reed connected from beyond the arc and Bruff hit a turnaround from the baseline to give UMaine a 25-13 lead at the 8:30 mark.

UNH couldn’t mount enough consistent offense to ever completely erase the deficit.

“It never felt like the whole game we really kind of were in it,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion. “Even though we got it down to two, you never had a feel [we had a chance to win].”

BLACK BEARS 65, WILDCATS 56

Maine (11-12) UNH (8-16)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Ahveniemi 3 3 2 4 8 Janev 3 12 9

Bruff 3 8 0 0 6 Onguetou 4 10 0 0 8

Sheets 5 12 2 2 16 Odom 2 6 6

Bernal 5 7 2 6 12 Gibbs 5 10 14

Reed 6 20 2 2 15 Andersen 8 15 19

Socoby 1 3 0 0 2 Tobey 0 0 0

Cook 0 0 0 0 0 McGeary 0 2 0 0

TchknBfia 3 6 0 0 6 Dunn 0 0 0

Herrick 0 1 0 0

Totals 26 59 8 14 65 Totals 22 56 56

Maine 30 65

New Hampshire 22 56

3-pt. goals – Maine (5-20): Bruff 0-1, Sheets 4-8, Reed 1-8, Socoby 0-2, Tchekane Bofia 0-1; UNH (9-26): Janev 2-6, Onguetou 0-1, Odom 2-5, Gibbs 3-6, Anderson 2-6, McGeary 0-2

Attendance: 1,873