For the past two months, it appeared as though the 1996-97 University of Maine men’s basketball team would forever be haunted by the spectre of December’s demoralizing loss to Division II Husson College of Bangor.

That changed Wednesday night, when first-year coach John Giannini’s Black Bears beat highly regarded Marquette 68-59 in Milwaukee. It is being called the most prestigious victory since the inception of the program in 1904.

UMaine’s 1986 victory over Michigan State had been generally been considered the program’s “biggest win.” Former Bears coach Skip Chappelle, who coached that game, agrees Wednesday’s game deserves the hype.

“It is my opinion at this point in time that this game ranks as the best,” conceded Chappelle, whose Bears had lost to Division III Southern Maine prior to beating the Spartans in ’86.

“It was a great, great win,” he added. “The thing that I enjoyed most was, Maine was pulling away at the end.

Maine’s win over Marquette, which last week was ranked No. 25 in the nation, has generated reactions locally and across the nation. Now, it is Marquette that wants to forget the Maine game.

“I think if we beat Cincinnati, people will forget about this loss,” said Marquette’s Aaron Hutchins.

Maine’s upset was discussed on national sports talk shows aired Thursday on WZON radio in Bangor. “The Fabulous Sports Babe” did a segment on the game, and local personality Dan Hannigan even interviewed ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.

UMaine senior Terry Hunt, who sank a key 3-pointer late to help the Bears hold the lead Wednesday night, ranks the victory among his most precious hoop memories.

“If I was to look at all the big games I’ve been in, I’d have to say this was one of the biggest,” said Hunt. “It is nice to finally receive that national recognition that we’ve been striving to get back to since we made it to the conference championship [in 1994].”

Giannini said the Bears were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd Thursday upon their return.

“I think that it creates excitement around the program, and I think that’s something we definitely want to build in the short and long term,” Giannini said. “It’s really about developing an identity for the program.”

On paper, Maine-Marquette was a mismatch. The Golden Eagles, one spot out of the Top 25, were 76th in the latest unofficial Ratings Percentage Index rankings and play in seventh-ranked Conference USA.

Marquette (14-5), which also was ranked first in the country in field-goal percentage defense (.327) and scoring defense (51.8 points per game), took Maine for granted.

“I think – me, personally – we were looking past Maine because they came in on our home court and their record reflected they weren’t that good,” Hutchins said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t think they’d come in and play us that hard and be that aggressive.”

The Bears, now 8-15, checked in at No. 211, representing 13th-ranked America East. It has attained its highest RPI ever among the nation’s 32 Division I leagues.

“It’s obviously a longshot to win a game when going up against a team that has that type of size, talent, record, and ranking,” Giannini said. “I think there are a few reasons why we won the game.”

1. Maine’s positive mental approach.

“We did not talk as much about Marquette as about ourselves,” Giannini said. “We really emphasized developing great pride in our program.”

“The pride thing really got us going. We really took it to heart,” Hunt said. “To look at our personnel on paper, most people wouldn’t have given us a shot. It shows the character and the heart that this team really exemplifies.”

2. Preparation factor. Coaches often don’t spend much time preparing for non-conference games. Giannini said Marquette did not appear to have scouted Maine effectively.

“They let John Gordon get open for threes [3-pointers], and that never happens in our conference,” Giannini said. Gordon scored a season-high 25 points, nailing five 3-pointers.

3. America East’s competitiveness. Giannini credits a tough league schedule with helping Maine pull off the upset.

“America East is a lot better than even I expected,” Giannini said. “Even those teams that are struggling in our conference are havsuccess outside the conference.”

Maine does not have the luxury of thinking it has become an overnight success. The hope is to parlay the victory into renewed enthusiasm and a quest for putting out such efforts more often.

“They gave a great effort, but consistency is far more elusive than people realize,” Giannini said. “Now we need to come back with the same kind of effort, pride and execution.”

Hunt is optimistic the Bears can build on the Marquette victory.

“We want to use it as a springboard, try to get a little bit of momentum,” Hunt said.

In the meantime, Giannini is using the game as a recruiting tool. He was on the phone with recruits Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m trying to take advantage of it by working on recruiting,” Giannini said. “I can tell them that we have only nine scholarship players and we’re able to beat some national names. Once we get bigger and better and deeper, it can only get better.”

(The Associated Press contributed to this story).