BANGOR – For the first 30 minutes of Tuesday evening’s men’s basketball clash between the University of Southern Maine and Husson College, it seemed that the Eagles’ transition game might run USM out of Newman Gymnasium.

USM coach Karl Henrikson made some key adjustments, and the Huskies played tougher man-to-man defense down the stretch, forcing the Eagles to settle for outside shots while keeping them off the offensive boards in earning a 73-65 victory in a game that featured seven lead changes.

The 4-8 Huskies of Gorham controlled the paint throughout the second half, and coach Warren Caruso’s club (4-5) found itself rattled into hurried shots and was forced out of its fast-break attack.

“We settled for bad shots. To their credit, their size in the second half prevented us from doing it,” Caruso said. “I think part of it was our impatience.”

But most of it was the formidable job that 6-foot-6 senior forward Jamaal Caterina of Portland (12 points, 14 rebounds), along with 6-9 forward Nick Gooding and 6-5 sophomore Greg Whitaker of Presque Isle did in limiting the Eagles’ second-change points, clogging up the paint, and stopping Husson’s quick guards’ penetration.

“I think we really stepped up our defensive pressure and took away some penetration,” said Henrikson, whose team outrebounded Husson 46-23. “We did a better job taking away penetration.”

Those efforts forced the Eagles out of their game plan.

“We talked for two days, the two biggest keys were rebounding and transition,” Caruso said. “In the last 10 minutes we stopped rebounding and didn’t get out in transition in the second half.”

That was quite the contrast to the early going, when Fabian Figueroa and Scott Kissinger torched USM’s defense for a combined 21 first-half points in which the Huskies struggled to get back on the defensive end.

“We weren’t getting back,” Henrikson said.

Drew Coppenrath took his turn finding the hot hand on the offensive end in the second half, scoring 10 of his team-high 16 points after intermission, the final of which came on a one-handed 12-footer on the right baseline which gave the Huskies a 68-60 edge with 1:05 to play.

Husson never got closer than four after that.

“I don’t know what happened. I just shoot it, I don’t know what to say,” said a baffled Coppenrath, the younger brother of former University of Vermont standout Taylor Coppenrath.

The Huskies found their offensive rhythm in the second half, cutting down on turnovers and doing a much better job of executing their offensive sets and spreading the ball around.

“[Coach told us to] just go out and play our game and spread the floor more,” Coppenrath said of the pivotal halftime adjustments.

Whitaker was also a force on the glass, hauling down nine rebounds to go with his 10 points while Foster Oakley contributed nine points for the Huskies.

Former Bangor High star Troy Jellison came off the bench to contribute seven points, including a key 3-pointer from the left wing to put the Huskies up 1 near the midway point of the second half.

Jellison helped USM put the game away by sinking the front end of a 1-and-1 to put the Huskeis up four with 25 seconds to play before four more free throws by Oakley and Caterina sealed it.

Brock Bradford of Kenduskeag poured in a game-high 19 points for the Eagles. Kissinger finished with 16 points and Figueroa 11 off the bench.

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HUSKIES 73, EAGLES 65

Southern Maine (4-8) Husson (4-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Pollock 0 0 0 0 0 Meehan 0 0 0

Hebert 0 1 0 0 0 Bradford 7 16 2 2 19

Caterina 5 15 2 2 12 Kissinger 5 13 4 5 16

Coppenrth 6 11 3 4 16 MacKnzie 2 5

Whitaker 4 9 0 0 10 Lee 0 7 0

Broomfield 1 2 1 2 4 Figueroa 4 11

Gabriele 0 0 0 0 0 Perras 1 6 2

Oakley 3 5 2 2 9 Coffin 3 6 8

Campbell 0 1 0 0 0 Jennings 1 2

Jellison 2 5 1 2 7 Henry 1 3 2

Jordan 1 3 0 0 2

Gooding 5 7 2 2 13

Totals 27 59 11 14 73 Totals 24 63 15 65

Southern Maine 31 73

Husson 33 65

3-pt. goals – Southern Maine (8-23): Whitaker 2-4, Jellison 2-5, Coppenrath 1-3, Oakley 1-2, Broomfield 1-1, Gooding 1-2, Campbell 0-1, Jordan 0-1, Caterina 0-4; Husson (8-29): Bradford 3-7, Kissinger 2-7, Coffin 2-4, Figueroa 1-2, Lee 0-4, Perras 0-5

Attendance: 450 (est.)