DURHAM, N.H. – Tory Cavalieri stole an inbounds pass with 23 seconds to go and Huggy Dye hit a fall-away jumper with 1.3 seconds left Sunday as the University of Maine posted an 86-84 America East men’s basketball win over New Hampshire at Lundholm Gym.

Shawn Collette’s 3-pointer with 1:35 left gave the Wildcats a 84-82 lead. But Carvell Ammons tied the game with 24 seconds to go on a layup off a Cavalieri miss and Cavalieri stole the ball on the ensuing inbounds play.

Cavalieri called timeout with 22 seconds left, setting up Dye for his last second fall-away to win it for the Black Bears.

UMaine coach John Giannini called Cavalieri’s steal “the most important play in us winning the game,” but said Dye’s execution on the final play was perfect.

“We ran our delay game and didn’t want to shoot until there was less than five seconds left,” Giannini said.

“We used our pick-and-roll clear-out play, but the officials were calling a lot of fouls and we told Huggy to fake like he was taking the pick, then to attack the basket,” Giannini said.

“He just did a great job of making a tough shot.”

Ammons had a game-high 26 points to go with 13 rebounds for Maine (16-7, 9-5 America East) and Dye finished with 20 points. Errick Greene pitched in with 15.

Chris Brown and Rob Marquardt each had 15 for the Wildcats (6-17, 5-9 America East).

New Hampshire trailed by 12 with 15:53 to go in the second half but went on a 24-10 run over the next seven minutes, capped off by a Brown 3-pointer at 7:12 to give the Wildcats a 72-70 lead.

“I thought we missed too many easy shots, we’re not strong enough with the ball, and we missed free throws,” Giannini said. “But I thought the effort was good.”

The Wildcats reeled in the Bears on the strength of some solid perimeter shooting.

Marcus Bullock hit a 3-pointer and Brown nailed two in a row over a three-minute span that turned a six-point UMaine lead into a two-point UNH edge.

Collett kept the ‘Cats within reach with two more 3-pointers in the game’s final four minutes -including the bomb at the 1:35 mark that made it 84-82 and set the stage for Cavalieri’s and Dye’s heroics.

“New Hampshire deserves a tremendous amount of credit,” Giannini said, referring to a run-and-gun style of play UNH has been employing over the past four weeks.

“The are extremely difficult to play against. They’re getting better all the time. The biggest reason this was a close game is because New Hampshire has become a pretty good team, especially at home,” Giannini said.

The Bears return home for two key conference games this week: No. 1 Hofstra invades Alfond Arena on Thursday and Drexel visits Orono for a Saturday clash.

Black Bears 86, Wildcats 84

Maine (16-7) New Hampshire (6-17)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Greene 6 12 3 7 15 Oglesby 1 6 3

Ammons 9 15 8 10 26 Faye 3 8 8

Dunkley 3 3 3 5 9 Marquardt 5 15

Jackson 1 6 0 0 2 Dullea 1 9 2

Dye 6 13 6 6 20 Bullock 4 6 1 11

Cavalieri 2 3 1 2 5 LeFlem 0 2 0

Haynes 1 2 1 2 4 Ganly 0 1 0

White 1 1 3 4 5 Brown 4 6 15

Senulis 3 4 0 7

Collette 6 6 14 Gould 3 7 6

Donahue 1 4 0 3

Totals 29 55 25 36 86 Totals 31 67 13 19 84

Maine 47 86

New Hampshire 38 84

3-pt. goals: Maine (3-5): Dye 2-3, Haynes 1-2; New Hampshire (9-21): Faye 1-3, Donahue 1-2, Dullea 0-3, Bullock 2-4, LeFlem 0-1, Ganly 0-1, Brown 2-2, Senulis 1-2, Collette 2-2, Gould 0-1

Attendance: 1,868