The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams both took on America East opponent Binghamton on Saturday afternoon.
BANGOR- The UMaine men’s basketball team started quickly, eventually fell behind, and then finished solid to pick up a 74-63 America East victory over visiting Binghamton in front of 1,537 fans at the Cross Insurance Center Saturday afternoon.
Maine opened the first couple of minutes by taking advantage of some early Bearcat turnovers. Kevin Little scored 10 of the first 13 Black Bear points as Maine took an early 13-2 advantage. But the Bearcats went on a 20-7 run and when Bobby Ahearn scored all of a sudden Binghamton had a 22-20 lead with 7:46 left in first half.
Binghamton would open the lead to as many as 7 in the first half at 36-29 but Maine was able to trim it down to 4 at 36-32 at intermission.
Maine would start the second half on a quick 9-2 run, finished off with an Issac Van corner three pointer, to put Maine back in front 41-38. Maine had a one point lead when Binghamton then went on a 7-1 run to take a 5 point advantage at 51-46, but Evine Deke followed up a Shaun Lawton miss with a dunk to tie the game at 54. Neither team held more than a three point lead over the next several minutes as the lead would swap hands four times.
Till Gloger scored a basket to give Maine a 5 point lead at 66-61 and a runout layup by Little after a Bearcat miss made it 68-61 Maine with just 2 minutes remaining. Maine would hit 6 of 6 from the line down the stretch to pull away to even their America East record on the season.
Maine, now 8-13 overall and 4-4 in conference, Little led the way with 22 points while Vann finished with 19 and 11 rebounds.
Binghamton drops their record to 5-16 and 2-6 in conference action. The Bearcats were led by Thomas Bruce with 16 points, Timmy Rose had 14 and Ahearn finished with 11.
Maine returns to action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. as they travel to Burlington to face Vermont.
VESTAL, NY- Liz Wood had a double double with 18 points and 14 rebounds as the UMaine women’s basketball team recorded a 52-38 America East victory at the Events Center on Saturday afternoon.
Maine would start red hot and build a 14 point lead after the opening quarter at 18-4 and would lead by as many as 17 in the first half. Binghamton outscored Maine by 6 in the second quarter to cut the Black Bear lead down to 8 at halftime.
Maine would increase their lead to 18 with a solid third period and then would coast to their fourth consecutive win.
Sigi Koizar also contributed 14 points, leaving her just 4 points short of a 1,000, and Lauren Bodine came off the bench to score 12 as Maine picked up their 16th win overall (16-7) and are now 7-1 in America East. Wood also had 3 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot to go along with her game high in points and rebounds.
Both teams struggled from the floor as Maine shot only 33 percent while the Bearcats shot 31 percent. Maine also forced Binghamton into 20 turnovers and held their opponent to the lowest point total of the season.
Rebecca Carmody and Imani Watkins both had 9 points to lead Binghamton (9-12, 4-4) while Kim Albrecht and Alyssa James also contributed 8 a piece.
Maine returns home Wednesday night to play host to Vermont. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
