The Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams split with Binghamton on Saturday afternoon. The women overcame a 12 point fourth quarter deficit to beat the Bearcats at home, while a late three-pointer in New York gave Binghamton the win on the men’s side.
In the women’s game at Memorial Gymnasium on Skip Chappelle Court in Orono- Maine erased a pair of 12 point fourth quarter deficits, and stunned the Binghamton Bearcats on a layup by Caroline Dotsey in the final seconds 54-53.
A Black Bears run of 16-5 cut it to 53-52 with nine seconds to go in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by Asta Blauenfeldt. After a foul, Kaia Goode would miss a pair from the line for Binghamton. Paula Gallego grabbed the rebound on the second miss and on the fastbreak found Blauenfeldt near midcourt, who then passed it into the paint to a streaking Dotsey for a layup with 2.5 seconds remaining. Bella Pucci missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer for the Bearcats, and Maine would pick up a much needed victory to snap their longest conference losing streak since the 2012-2013 season (four games).
Three Black Bears scored in double figures in the win, led by 12 points from Sera Hodgson (four 3-pointers). Blauenfeldt put in 11 points, and Caroline Bornemann had 10 points and eight rebounds. Olivia Rockwood and Gallego also chipped in with nine and seven points respectively. Rockwood also had nine rebounds, and Gallego had seven boards, six assists, and three steals. Jadyn Weltz had 13 points for Binghamton, while Goode finished with 10 points. The Bearcats fall to 14-14 and 6-9 in America East. Maine improves to 13-14 and 8-6 in conference play, and will host UNH on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
In the men’s game at the Events Center in Vestal, New York- Binghamton scored the final five points, getting a game winning three-pointer from Tymu Chenery with 29 seconds left to play in a 71-69 win over Maine.
Maine took advantage of four early turnovers by Binghamton, breaking out an 11-2 lead just under six minutes into the first half. The Black Bears led by as many as 10 at 25-15 on a three-pointer by Christopher Mantis, before the Bearcats ended the opening 20 minutes on a run of 23-8 to take a lead of 38-33 at the break. The guests jumped back in front 49-46 using a 10-0 spurt capped by another three-pointer by Mantis and a layup by Jayden Clayton with 11:30 left to play. After Binghamton took back a six point lead, Maine took their final advantage of the afternoon on two free throws by AJ Lopez and a layup by Quion Burns 69-66 with 1:48 remaining. Wes Peterson knocked down two free throws for Binghamton with 57 seconds to go to cut it to one, and then after a three-point miss by Clayton, Chenery knocked down a three from behind the arc with 29 seconds showing on the clock. Kellen Tynes missed a game winning three-point attempt for the Black Bears as time expired.
Burns led Maine in the loss with 18 points and eight rebounds. Mantis finished with 17 points (5-8 three-pointers), while Tynes also got into double figures with 10 points, eight assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Four players scored in double digits for Binghamton, led by Chris Walker who had a game-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Chenery had 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Gavin Walsh and Peterson chipped in with 13 and 12 points respectively. The Bearcats improve to 15-14 and 7-7 in America East. The Black Bears have now dropped three straight games in seeing their record fall to 16-12 and 8-5 in conference play. Maine will finish their three game road trip in Durham on Thursday as they take on UNH at 7 p.m.
