WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford Hawks shut down Maine’s inside game to earn a 59-47 men’s basketball victory at The Sports Center Tuesday night.

A six-minute scoring drought late in the second half, when Maine had been down by only a point at 42-41, sealed the Black Bears’ fate.

A Joe Campbell 3-pointer with 3:09 to play shaved the Hawks’ margin to 48-44, but Hartford scored nine straight points to build an insurmountable lead.

The Bears didn’t score again until Rickey White hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining.

“They played great defense,” said Black Bear coach John Giannini about the Hawks. “They pack it in from 10 feet in. … They make it very hard to score around the basket.”

The Bears have emphasized recently getting the ball inside to 7-foot center Justin Rowe for dunks as well as to big forward Errick Greene.

“A lot of teams in [America East] have three-guard lineups, so we can work inside,” said Giannini, “but [Hartford] goes with three big men inside and they make it tough to score there. That’s where our bread-and-butter offense is.”

Maine was forced to shoot more from outside, but the Bears were equally cold from there.

“We have to make a lot more 3’s than we did,” said Giannini, whose team was 9-for-27 from beyond the arc.

“We have to shoot better than 33 percent,” said Giannini. “That’s not too much to ask. We’re close to 40 percent on the year, and these were pretty open shots.

“It’s pretty simple common-sense basketball.”

The Hawks’ victory pulled them into third place in America East, a half-game in front of the Black Bears. Hartford moved to 10-14 for the season, 7-4 in the conference. Maine dropped to 9-12, 6-4.

A layup by Deon Saunders 6:34 into the game snapped a 9-all tie and gave Hartford the lead for good.

The Black Bears hung close, though, until the scoring drought began with 9:26 remaining.

Rowe led Maine with 10 points, and Campbell, Todd Tibbetts, and Clayton Brown added eight each. Rowe also had nine rebounds and six blocks.

“We played good enough defense to win, we just had a hard time scoring,” said Giannini.

Pierre Johnson and Ryan Stys led the Hawks with 13 points each, and Mantas Storpirstis had 11. Saunders had 14 rebounds, and Stys had four steals.

HAWKS 59, BLACK BEARS 47

Maine (9-12) Hartford (10-14)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tibbetts 3 7 0 0 8 Saunders 3 12 2 3 8

Campbell 3 6 0 0 8 Amous 3 8 6

Rowe 5 12 0 1 10 Johnson 5 9 3 13

Jackson 2 12 0 0 6 McClinton 0 0

Greene 0 1 1 3 1 Stys 4 11 13

Petkus 0 4 0 0 0 Storpirstis 4 11

Brown 3 9 0 0 8 Goode 1 2 2

White 2 3 1 2 6 Swan 1 3 2

Regan 1 1 0 2

Odugbela 1 5 2

Totals 18 54 2 6 47 23 59 14 59

Maine 24 47

Hartford 30 59

3-pt. goals: Maine (9-27): Tibbetts 2-5, Campbell 2-4, Jackson 2-5, Brown 2-8, White 1-1, Petkus 0-4; Hartford (4-12): Storpirstis 3-4, Stys 1-3, Saunders 0-1, Amous 0-2, McClinton 0-1, Swan 0-1

Attendance: 1,046