The University of Maine basketball teams took on Binghamton on Thursday night as the regular season winds down. The men were on the road, while a power outage on campus in Orono forced the women into having their game moved to Bangor to take on the Bearcats.
In the men’s game at the Events Center in Vestal, NY- Tymu Chenery scored his 1,000th career point to give Binghamton the lead for good in overtime, as the hosts spoiled a chance for Maine to win their third conference game in a row for the first time this season with a 76-74 victory. The Black Bears got off to a good start, scoring the first five points. The Bearcats took over with a big run of 17-5 over a span of 4:57 capped off by a three-pointer from Chenery to take a 29-16 advantage. They held a 39-31 lead at the break.
Maine returned the favor and opened the first 6:04 of the second half on a spurt of 16-2 to take a 47-41 lead. They were in front until there was 3:41 remaining, that is when Armon Harried knocked in a three-pointer for a 60-58 Binghamton lead. Peter Filipovity hit 1-2 at the line on the next two Black Bears possessions to tie it up. After a missed three-pointer by Dan Petcash with the score still even 62-62 with 49 seconds left, the guests had a chance to grab the lead back late. Jaden Clayton penetrated down the lane and tried to kick the ball back out to the top of the key, but no teammates were there. Kellen Tynes got to it near midcourt and had to launch a desperation heave at the shot clock buzzer that went over the backboard. Two layups in the closing seconds by the Bearcats were no good, sending it to overtime. After Binghamton scored the first four points of the extra frame, Tynes and Kristians Feierbergs hit back to back three-pointers to make it 68-66 Maine. Nehemiah Benson tied it again with a short jumper 17 seconds later, and then after a Feierbergs miss Chenery converted a putback layup for his career milestone to put his team up for good with 1:25 to go.
Filipovity led Maine in the loss with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Tynes added 16 points, three assists, and two steals. Quion Burns and Clayton also got into double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively. The Black Bears are now 13-16 and 5-9 in America East. Gavin Walsh had 17 points and nine rebounds for Binghamton, while Harried contributed 16 points and eight boards. Chenery and Petcash had 13 points each, as the Bearcats move to 13-14 and 5-9 in the conference.
In the women’s game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor- Anne Simon had 26 points and 10 rebounds, as Maine bounced back after a very slow start and then held on for a 57-51 win over Binghamton. It seemed both teams needed to adjust to shooting in that background at the CIC, as they combined to shoot 5-27 from the floor in the first quarter with the Bearcats coming out with an 8-6 lead after 10 minutes. A jumper by Sarah Talon with 6:52 left in second would make it 12-10 Black Bears, and they wouldn’t trail again leading 24-19 at the half.
Maine extended that lead in the third quarter by scoring the first eight points, capped off by a three-pointer by Jaycie Christopher to make it 32-19. Binghamton though didn’t go away easy, as they ran off 11 straight to slice the deficit to just a pair. Three-pointers by Simon and Caroline Bornemann helped the Black Bears end the period on a 10-2 run to push the lead back to 10. Maine would lead by as many as 14 early in the fourth, and then would hold on down the stretch to set up a huge regular season finale at home on Saturday with Albany.
Simon added three assists and a steal to her 26 point 10 rebound performance in the Maine win. Talon had nine points and five rebounds, while Adrianna Smith grabbed 13 rebounds and scored eight points all at the free throw line (0-12 from the floor). The Black Bears are 20-9 and 13-2 in America East. Ella Wanzer had 14 points, and Denai Bowman had 10 points and six rebounds for Binghamton. The Bearcats drop to 12-16 and 7-8 in the league.
The Maine teams head back into action Saturday against Albany. The winner of the womens game will win the regular season conference title and get the #1 seed and a chance to host throughout the America East Tournament. That tips off in the Pit at Memorial Gymnasium at 1 p.m. The men stay in New York to battle battle the Great Danes at 4 p.m.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
