The University of Maine men’s basketball team got off to a promising start against the Binghamton University Bearcats in a battle of America East teams looking to snap extensive losing streaks. Maine held a 26-13 lead with 7:29 left in the first half.
But the Bearcats, who start four freshmen and a sophomore, used a 16-4 run to pull within one at halftime and parlayed a 24-7 stretch in the second half to pull away from the Black Bears 65-46 at the Events Center in Vestal, New York, Saturday afternoon.
After leading 26-13, Maine got outscored 52-20 the rest of the way to suffer its ninth straight loss. Maine is now 1-14 overall, 0-3 in league play.
Binghamton snapped a 14-game losing streak dating back to an 82-51 win over Hartwick on Nov. 19. Binghamton is now 2-16 and 1-2, respectively.
Willie Rodriguez paced the Bearcats with a game-high 19 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Romello Walker had 18 points and eight rebounds and Justin McFadden notched 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Bobby Ahearn had a game-high 12 rebounds and three steals.
Rodriguez, Walker, McFadden and Ahearn are all freshmen. Leading scorer Dusan Perovic, a 6-foot-9 freshman center, was sidelined due to an injury.
Maine was led by Till Gloger’s 16 points and team-high eight rebounds. Zarko Valjarevic had 10 points; Garet Beal finished with eight points, five rebounds and four assists and Shaun Lawton had five points and a team-leading five assists. Lawton also had eight turnovers.
Troy Reid-Knight chipped in with seven points and a pair of steals.
Rodriguez had six of his points during a 16-4 flurry to close out the first half and pull the Bearcats within one.
The Bearcats carried that momentum into the second half and used the 24-7 run, including a 14-1 flurry to cap it off, to transform a 33-32 deficit into a comfortable 56-40 lead with 4:20 remaining.
Maine missed nine consecutive shots during that decisive Binghamton spurt and also turned the ball over nine times.
Maine coach Bob Walsh said the Bearcats began turning up the pressure defensively in the latter stages of the first half and “we didn’t handle it well. We started turning the ball over. They also attacked the glass and we weren’t tough enough to handle it.”
Binghamton outrebounded Maine 41-27 over the 40 minutes, including a 16-5 edge on the offensive boards, and forced 17 turnovers while turning the ball over just eight times.
“They were pretty aggressive defensively and their pressure made us uncomfortable. We didn’t respond and we have to find a way to respond,” said Maine senior forward Valjarevic. “That has happened to us a lot this year. In the second half, we couldn’t do anything. We missed our shots and turned the ball over.”
Walsh said his team lacked a “competitive edge.
“They changed the game on us with their competitive edge and we didn’t respond,” said Walsh. “We have to find a competitive edge and maintain it for 40 minutes.”