BOSTON – The University of Maine’s recent difficulties at the point guard position are no secret to the other men’s basketball teams in America East.

Wednesday night, Boston University logically chose to pressure the Black Bears defensively and reap any benefits that might come from the strategy.

The Terriers hounded UMaine into 15 first-half turnovers and took advantage of an aggressive transition attack while manufacturing a 27-point advantage on their way to a 73-54 men’s basketball victory over UMaine at Case Gym.

“They’re playing as well as anybody in the whole league is right now,” UMaine coach Ted Woodward said of BU, the favorite in the preseason coaches’ poll. “They’re going to be a very dangerous team for anybody to play going into the tournament.”

UMaine (7-19, 3-10 AE), which lost its third straight game, managed only 18 field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes while BU hit five 3-pointers, made four dunks and shot 52 percent to take command early.

With sophomore point guard Junior Bernal out for the third consecutive game with an ankle injury, shooting guard Kaimondre Owes handled much of the ballhandling responsibilities. Robby Hanzlik also saw some action at the point.

“It’s a challenge for us, but something that we’re going to have to continue to work through and find a way to solve,” Woodward said.

The Terriers (11-15, 8-6 AE) jumped on the injury-riddled Bears from the outset and wound up forcing 22 turnovers that resulted directly in 23 BU points.

“Right now we’re having some turnover difficulties and with our personnel situation, it’s an issue for us,” Woodward said. “We really wanted to work on being strong with the basketball and we weren’t able to do that.”

The contest marked the return from injury of senior center Brian Andre of Bingham, who led the Bears from the post with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Andre missed the previous two games with a broken nose suffered in practice and wore a plastic protective shield.

“There’s really no excuse for the way we’ve been playing,” Andre said. “We just haven’t been playing to our capability. Sometimes we show some flashes, but we’re just not being consistent right now.”

Mark Socoby of Houlton wound up with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Philippe Tchekane Bofia added nine points for UMaine, which shot 35 percent from the floor. The Bears outrebounded the Terriers 37-30.

Freshman phenom John Holland served as the catalyst for BU. He went 10-for-17 from the field on his way to a game-high 23 points and also posted six steals and four assists.

Holland was a one-man highlight reel, throwing down four dunks, three in the first half alone.

“He’s obviously completely coming into to his own in the second half of the year and is playing as well as certainly any freshman in the league and most players in the league,” Woodward said.

Corey Lowe nailed four 3-pointers on his way to 18 points and also dished out nine assists. Maine native Carlos Strong chipped in with 10 points for BU, which shot 48 percent from the floor in the game.

BU picked apart the UMaine defense in the first half. The Terriers opened by hitting four 3-pointers in the first 4:14 while surging to an 11-0 lead. They also frequently beat the Bears down the floor in transition, both off steals and defensive rebounds, for high-percentage points.

“That (pressure) generated some easy baskets for them that they were really feeding off of,” Woodward said.

The four first-half dunks simply further inspired an already fired up BU team.

“It’s just frustrating, turning the ball over and having them go down and throw it down,” Andre said.

The Bears wound up shooting only 22 percent from the floor, making only four field goals, in the first half.

UMaine trailed 52-21 before mounting its first legitimate offensive surge of the contest. Owes scored four points and five different players contributed as the Bears put together a 15-5 run that still only got them within 21 points with 11:54 to play.

They would get no closer.

pwarner@bangordailynews.net

990-8240

TERRIERS 73, BLACK BEARS 54

Maine (7-19) Boston U. (11-15)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Barnies 2 5 0 0 4 Holland 10 17 23

McNally 1 6 0 0 3 Brittain 2 11 1 2 5

Bofia 3 7 3 3 9 Wolff 1 2 2

Owes 2 9 2 4 6 Lowe 7 13 0 18

Socoby 4 8 0 0 11 Morris 2 4 7

Hanzlik 1 6 1 2 4 Konate 0 0 0

Andre 4 8 4 8 12 Tully 0 0 0

Costigan 1 2 0 0 3 Killen 0 1 0

Cook 0 0 0 0 0 Sirutis 0 1 0 0

Peay 0 1 2 2 2 Agboola 0 0 0 0

Strong 4 7 2 10

Johnson 3 5 2 8

Smith 0 0 0 0

Gotzler 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 52 12 19 54 Totals 29 61 10 73

Maine 18 54

Boston University 42 73

3-pt. goals – Maine (6-20): Socoby 3-6, McNally 1-1, Hanzlik 1-6, Costigan 1-1, Barnies 0-2, Tchekane Bofia 0-4; Boston University (7-20): Lowe 4-8, Holland 2-5, Wolff 0-1, Sirutis 0-1, Strong 0-3

Attendance: 782