ORONO, Maine — It was another one of those head-shaking games Saturday for University of Maine men’s basketball coach Ted Woodward, his players and their fans.
The Black Bears did a good job rebounding, limited their turnovers and scored more points in the paint, but the end result was a fifth straight loss, 70-62, in their America East conference opener against Binghamton University at Alfond Arena.
“We’ve just got to get more point production and finish a few more plays,” said Woodward. “We’re close, but we need to continue to keep our confidence.”
That was a bit difficult to do early on as the Bearcats, who hadn’t enjoyed tremendous success from behind the 3-point line before Saturday, hit their first three attempts — and 10 of 21 in the game — to take the lead for good with six minutes left in the first half.
“Our shooting and the way we started out was huge for us,” said junior forward D.J. Rivera, who led Binghamton’s long-range assault by canning 5 of 9 3-pointers en route to a game-high 24 points. “The penetration from our point guards made it easier for us to shoot. They would drive and kick it out to us.”
Guard Dwayne Jackson came off the bench to shoot 4-for-8 from 3-point range and score 12 points and help shred Maine’s zone defense.
“When they’ve struggled this year, they haven’t made threes,” Woodward said. “They’ve even had a couple where they didn’t make any, but obviously when they do make them, it makes them a much better team.”
The 8-4 Bearcats also excelled in another key category, outscoring Maine 19-7 in points off the bench. That helped offset Maine’s big edge in points in the paint (31-15) and offensive rebounds (14-4).
After watching sophomore forward Sean McNally lead Maine with nine points in the first half, BU double-teamed him and limited him to two in the second.
“Our primary focus was Sean McNally,” said BU coach Kevin Broadus. “We knew [Mark] Socoby would score, but McNally scared me.
“He’s an effort and energy guy and did what I expected him to do in the first half. Holding him down in the second half was a key to the game.”
The Bearcats’ effort didn’t come without cost, however, as the fouls mounted and BU put Maine in the bonus 11½ minutes into the second half.
Unfortunately for the Bears, they couldn’t take advantage of the freebies as they missed seven of their first 10 foul shots in the second half and 15 of 32 in the game.
Overall, the Bearcats outshot Maine 51.1 percent to 37 percent from the field.
“We’re a better foul shooting team than that, and we had a lot of good shots that didn’t fall,” said McNally, who also had seven rebounds. “I think coming down the stretch in games like this, our heads get all flustered when they’re pressuring us and when we do get those open looks, I think we’re thinking about other stuff.”
Binghamton’s press seemed to have the same effect late in the first half as the Bearcats scored back-to-back hoops off Bears turnovers to fuel a 16-5 scoring run good for a 38-27 halftime lead.
While McNally was being slowed down in the second half, Junior Bernal was heating up. Maine’s junior guard scored 12 of his 14 points and grabbed five of his team-leading nine rebounds in the second half.
“Every time we drove in, they’d help, but fake the help and then go back to their man,” said Bernal, who also had four assists. “I don’t think they wanted to foul us and that helped Gerald [McLemore] and I get into those seams and drive to the basket.”
McLemore finished with 16 points for the 5-9 Black Bears.
The win was the first conference victory on the road for Binghamton since 2000.
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