BOSTON – Saturday’s America East championship game couldn’t have gone much worse for the University of Maine men’s basketball team.

A national TV audience watched as Boston University first dismantled Maine’s defenses, then exploited the Bears’ anemic offense, then turned the second half into a 20-minute celebration of the Terriers’ first NCAA tourney bid since 1997.

The lead was 19 at the half, peaked at 33, and the Terriers coasted in with a 66-40 thumping under their belts.

About the only way it could have gone worse for UMaine: Well … the rickety floor at Case Gymnasium could have given way under the near-constant swaying that 1,738 delirious foot-stomping fans cause. The entire gym – nicknamed “The Roof” – could have collapsed onto the ice of Walter Brown Arena, which occupies the building’s first level.

Then again, there are probably some who would say that such an outcome could have been more palatable than the carnage they ended up witnessing.

Sounds bad? It was: a UMaine men’s team hasn’t scored as few as 40 points in a game in recent history – checks of records back to the 1970-71 season failed to turn up another 40-point performance.

“We wanted to play well. We expected to play well. We gave pretty good effort,” Maine coach John Giannini said.

“We did everything we could. We tried different defenses, and our guys were playing awfully hard. We just couldn’t get back in the game.”

No. 5 Maine finishes its season 12-18, while BU improves to 22-9 and advances to the NCAA tourney.

BU gained the lowest seed in the West Region, 16th, and will play No. 1 Cincinnati Friday.

After the Black Bears and Terriers were tied at 8-8 in the early going, BU held Maine scoreless for more than seven minutes. By the time the Bears answered on a Clayton Brown bucket, the Terriers were up 22-10 with 6:59 to go in the first half … and Maine would never get any closer than 11 after that.

The Terriers hit four of their first five 3-pointers – and 11 of their first 15 – while softening up the Black Bear defense. The tournament’s most outstanding player, Billy Collins, did much of the early damage, nailing four first-half 3-pointers en route to 14 points.

Giannini said the early problems were caused not by lax perimeter defense, but by post players who didn’t carry out their assignments when they were required to step outside.

“In the first half, some of our bigger guys gave up 3-point shots, whether it was in the man-to-man or in the zone, and just didn’t get out quick enough,” Giannini said.

“We added [it] up. There were five [3-pointers], that [they] either made in a certain big man’s zone, or against a big man in a man-to-man. That’s the kind of team that really stretches you out.”

BU ended up setting a tournament record for 3-pointers with 11 on 18 attempts.

Freshman point guard Chaz Carr, who joined Collins on the all-tournament team, pitched in with 15 points and six assists. Paul Seymour also scored 15 while Ryan Butt had 12.

BU coach Dennis Wolff pointed at that balance as something that his team has enjoyed all year long.

“If you follow us throughout the year, we’ve had different guys in different games. That’s one of the things that makes us relatively difficult to defend, is we don’t have a guy, or two guys you can key on,” Wolff said.

Maine was led by senior Errick Greene, who scored 11, and all-tourney performer Clayton Brown, who scored 10 points in 25 minutes of action.

Hartford’s Junior Amous and Vermont’s Trevor Gaines were also named to the all-tourney team.

Maine’s Derrick Jackson said the defensive problems put Maine in a big hole.

“In the first half, we just didn’t make the shifts needed to stop them from getting open shots,” Jackson said. “They just took advantage of that. It was just a total defensive breakdown out there.”

Maine shot just 31.7 percent from the floor, while BU connected on a deceiving 43.9 percent. The Terriers shot 52.2 percent in the first half while building their lead.

Greene was unwilling to make excuses for the performance, but admitted that the Bears had missed a great opportunity.

“I’m already looking back,” Greene said. “We had our chance today and just didn’t get the job done today. I could sit here and point fingers and do all this and that, but the bottom line is, we didn’t get the job done.”

TERRIERS 66, BLACK BEARS 40

Maine (12-18) Boston University (22-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tibbetts 0 0 0 0 0 Fitzgerald 0 0

Jackson 1 6 0 1 3 Carr 5 12 15

Greene 3 9 4 6 11 Bell 1 3 2

White 2 5 0 0 4 Collins 5 9 14

Rowe 3 7 1 2 7 Butt 5 8 0 12

Petkus 0 2 3 4 3 Seymour 5 10 15

Flavin 0 2 1 2 1 Michalek 0 0

Dubois 0 0 1 2 1 Kudlacz 1 1 2

Campbell 0 0 0 0 0 Grochowalski 0 0

Brown 4 10 2 3 10 Dhondt 0 1 0

Rodriguez 3 4 6

Daccarett 0 0 0

Totals 13 41 12 20 40 Totals 25 57 66

Maine 17 40

Boston University 36 66

3-pt. goals: Maine (2-9): Jackson 1-3, Greene 1-2, White 0-1, Petkus 0-2, Brown 0-1; Boston University (11-18): Fitzgerald 0-1, Carr 3-5, Collins 4-5, Butt 2-2, Seymour 2-4, Grochowalski 0-1

Attendance: 1,738