ORONO – For the past several weeks, Justin Rowe has heard the same three words (or more, depending on how angry coach John Giannini is at the time, and how … colorful … the speech gets) each time he misses a short shot in the lane.

“Dunk the [insert colorful adjective here] ball.”

In Thursday night’s game against Binghamton, the 7-foot Rowe did some of that. Early. Quite often. And with authority. He also didn’t miss a field goal attempt all night long.

Rowe dunked the ball five times, made 11 straight shots, and finished the game with a career-high 24 points to lead the University of Maine to an 80-69 men’s basketball win over the Bearcats.

“We went into the game with a game plan to see if Justin Rowe, one-on-one, could beat us,” Binghamton coach Al Walker said. “And he certainly did. At our place [on Jan. 20] we did some more doubling down and they shot the heck out of it, so we thought maybe we’d play Justin one-on-one, and he played great.”

Rowe also blocked six shots, including three on three straight Binghamton trips early in the second half as the Bearcats were making a move. All of his blocks came in the game’s final 17 minutes.

Rowe, the nation’s third-leading shot-blocker, surpassed the single-season school mark for blocks during the game. He has 81 for the season. Jeff Cross blocked 80 in 1983-84.

Maine improved to 8-11, 5-3 in America East play, while Binghamton dropped to 7-13, 4-6.

After the Bearcats pulled even at 52-52 with 12:48 to go, Rowe jumpstarted a crucial UMaine run by gathering in a Derrick Jackson alley-oop feed and slamming the ball home to spark a 10-2 run and give the Bears the lead for good.

Rowe said getting off to a fast start – he scored three hoops in the game’s opening 3:25 – was a key.

“I’ve been ready for this game since the last game. I was really upset with myself and the way I played last game. I was very amped for this one.”

Errick Greene added 26 points for UMaine while Jackson had 14 and Joe Campbell added nine. Todd Tibbetts grabbed 11 rebounds.

Giannini said the Bearcats’ strategy made sense, but admitted that the Bears were content to take what Binghamton gave them.

“Last game we would get the ball inside and they would double down. We kicked it out and we made 11 3’s,” Gianini said. “Without the help, we were able to score inside more. Errick was able to score more inside more, too.”

The rugged 6-foot-3 guard was very effective bulling his way toward the basket against smaller defenders and went 6-for-10 from the floor and 14-for-18 from the free throw line.

Speedy 6-footer Mike Wright scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Bearcats while Jeffrey St. Fort tallied 14 points.

The Black Bears outshot Binghamton 61.9 percent to 33.8 percent in the game but outrebounded them only 39-35. Greene, who grabbed seven rebounds, said that kept the game close.

“I think if we would have rebounded better, we would have won by 15 or 20, no question,” Greene said. “The bottom line is, we’re giving up too many offensive rebounds. They’re getting more shots than us.”

The Bearcats grabbed a whopping 21 of their 35 rebounds on their own offensive glass. Maine managed only eight offensive boards.

In the first half, the Black Bears made their first five shots of the game, eight of their first 10, and headed to the locker room with a sparkling 62.5 percent effort to Binghamton’s 38.9 percent.

And while the Bears took brief control of the game when they piled up an 11-point lead, all they had to show for their sharp-shooting was a four-point halftime edge at 38-34.

Binghamton answered Maine’s early shooting show by extending its defense to midcourt and refusing to let the Bears get into their offensive sets. The tactic worked: After the Bears went ahead 30-19 with 6:00 to play, the Bearcats reeled off nine straight points – on a 3-pointer from Mike Wright and two straight 3-pointers from Stanley Oscitti – to pull within 30-28.

Oscitti’s shots illustrated Binghamton’s offensive scheme. Rowe was guarding Oscitti, and the 6-foot-8 Bearcat simply camped out at the top of the key. When Rowe didn’t choose to step out of the paint and guard him, Oscitti had launched back-to-back uncontested 3-pointers – and nailed them both.

Greene and Rowe scored 10 points apiece in the half while freshman Campbell added nine.

St. Fort scored 10 points in the half to lead Binghamton.

NOTES: Longtime Maine hoop-watchers may have seen a familiar face on the Binghamton bench. Randy Dunton, a former Bangor Christian High School standout, is a second-year assistant coach for the Bearcats. Dunton has also served as an assistant at Liberty University, and was the head coach of Marshalltown (Iowa) Community College for the 1999-2000 season. … Maine’s Errick Greene suited up in a uniform other than his own for the third straight game. He wore Rickey White’s No. 43 against Binghamton on Jan. 20, and has worn No. 42 instead of his customary 30 against New Hampshire and again on Thursday. His original uniform has been misplaced.

BLACK BEARS 80, BEARCATS 69

Binghamton (7-14) Maine (8-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Daws 1 7 0 0 2 Tibbetts 1 2 3

Hannan 1 8 2 2 4 Campbell 3 9

St. Fort 6 18 2 3 14 Jackson 4 7 14

Green 2 8 0 2 4 Greene 6 10 14 18 26

Ooms 0 3 2 2 2 Rowe 11 11 2 24

Wright 7 15 5 7 24 Petkus 0 1 0

Watson 0 1 0 0 0 Brown 1 7 4

Wohl 0 0 0 0 0

Washington 1 2 0 0 2

Ocitti 6 10 0 1 15

Billings 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 25 74 11 17 69 Totals 26 42 26 37 80

Binghamton 34 69

Maine 38 80

3-pt. goals ? Binghamton (8-25): Daws 0-5, Hannan 0-3, Green 0-2, Wright 5-9, Washington 0-1, Ocitti 3-5; Maine (2-11): Tibbetts 0-1, Campbell 1-2, Jackson 1-3, Greene 0-1, Petkus 0-1, Brown 0-3

Attendance: 1,511