BANGOR, Maine — There was absolutely no chance the University of Maine men’s basketball team was going to take Husson University lightly.
Five days after a head-shaking loss to Division III University of Southern Maine, the Black Bears made a much better showing on Thursday night.
Sophomore Garet Beal led the charge, connecting for a game-high 26 points to propel UMaine to a 98-58 exhibition victory over the Eagles at the Cross Insurance Center.
“Our biggest concern tonight was bringing the right mentality, the mental toughness to handle some adversity coming off a loss,” UMaine head coach Bob Walsh said of his team’s effort in front of 1,617 fans.
The Division I Black Bears surged midway through the first half, then pulled away with a dominating performance in the final 20 minutes. UMaine took advantage of its superior frontcourt height, rebounding and internal defense to wear down Division III Husson, which was at a physical disadvantage up front.
“Obviously, we didn’t like the end result of last Saturday,” said Beal, a former Jonesport-Beals High School star, who added five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 29 minutes.
“Today we got in a little huddle and we were just like, we just need to let it go and work hard tonight,” he added.
UMaine built the win around its aggressive defense, holding the Eagles to 31 percent shooting while grabbing a 56-38 rebounding advantage.
Husson, playing for the first time after losing six fifth-year seniors off last year’s team, didn’t have enough depth to stand up to the bigger Black Bears.
“I just didn’t like our guys’ effort in the second half,” said Eagles coach Warren Caruso, “Any sport’s a game of wills and I certainly think that (Maine) won that early in the second half.”
Sophomore forward Erik Nissen posted a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Till Gloger netted 13 points with five rebounds for the Black Bears, while Aaron Calixte provided 11 points and six assists and Ethan Mackey contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.
UMaine shot 51 percent from the floor, outscoring Husson 58-16 in the paint and notching 27 second-chance points.
“We did a really good job getting the ball inside and cutting more on offense, getting inside-out looks,” Mackey said. “We played our team defense a lot better.”
The Black Bears were without two key players in senior shooting guard Zarko Valjarevic and sophomore point guard Troy Reid-Knight, both of whom are nursing preseason injuries.
Trevon Butler paced Husson with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Mitch Worcester of Washburn, a UMaine transfer, and Eli Itkin tossed in 11 points each, while Raheem Anderson added nine points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
“I thought we played really invested in each other tonight,” Walsh said. “We were more cohesive as a unity on the defensive end of the floor, you could see our team defense happening.”
The Black Bears led 44-31 at the break, thanks in great part to 18 points from Beal, who went 7-for-12 from the field, including two 3-pointers.
UMaine made a move after Butler hit a 3-pointer for Husson to tie the game at 20-20 with 10:13 left.
Kevin Little kicked off a UMaine run with a driving pump shot, then Mackey hit a short jump hook off a Gloger pass after the Eagles’ second straight turnover among 11 in the half and 22 in the game.
Beal drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Calixte scored a transition layup off a Shaun Lawton feed before Worcester halted the spurt with a 3-pointer for Husson.
However, Beal’s conventional three-point play restored the Bears’ lead to 32-23 with 6:36 left in the half. UMaine later stretched the lead to as many as 15 points with Mackey’s soft touch from close range keying the charge.
“They might have taken the lead and we had given up 20 points in the first 10 minutes and we responded,” Walsh said.
UMaine pulled away over the last 15 minutes with its ability to get the ball down low and into the paint. The Bears outscored the Eagles 40-14 in the final 14:13.
The Bears, who open the regular season Nov. 15 at Butler, received a boost from the energetic crowd.
“It was exciting having such good support tonight,” Beal said. “The fans were great.”
Husson, which opens Nov. 20 against Saint Joseph’s, hopes to benefit from the UMaine game.
“It was a good experience,” Butler said. “We just wanted to come out, get our feet wet.”