BANGOR, Maine — The University of Maine demonstrated plenty of determination and resilience on Wednesday night.
But coach Bob Walsh said the Black Bears were lacking in one key element against the University of New Hampshire: Toughness.
The Wildcats imposed their will at times with a hard-nosed approach and held off a late challenge by UMaine to earn a 63-58 America East men’s basketball victory at the Cross Insurance Center.
“They’ve got a tough, physical team,” said UMaine coach Bob Walsh. They guard you really hard. They struggled to make shots tonight, but we were trying to catch up to their level of toughness the entire game.”
New Hampshire (12-9, 5-3 AE) outscored UMaine 18-5 during a pivotal stretch of the second half on the way to its fourth straight win, its third consecutive league road victory.
UMaine (2-19, 1-7 America East) suffered two protracted offensive slumps and could not consistently get stops against the hard-charging Wildcats.
“We just waited too long to start playing our hardest,” said freshman guard Kevin Little, who sparked UMaine with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“We just waited too long to start playing to our full ability,” he added.
The Wildcats outscored the Black Bears 30-24 in the paint and came away with a 47-34 rebounding advantage.
“You’ve got to give Maine credit defensively with their game plan,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion.
“They did a great job extending the game.”
Shaun Lawton finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while Till Gloger (8 rebounds) and Aaron Calixte provided eight points each for UMaine.
Jaleen Smith paced a balanced effort for the Wildcats with 14 points and Tanner Leissner contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds. Matt Miller added 10 points and seven rebounds and Jacoby Armstrong posted eight points and six rebounds.
The Black Bears got hot from long range during an 11-2 flurry that gave them their only lead of the contest (34-33) with 12:29 to play. Aaron Calixte connected swished a 3 and Troy Reid-Knight snipped a pair of 3-pointers before Little’s 18-footer put UMaine in front.
The momentum was short lived.
The Wildcats had an answer in Leissner, who made some crafty moves in the paint while scoring seven points to spearhead an 11-0 run that gave UNH a 42-34 lead with 9:27 to play.
“I think we finally got the ball to him in some spots, and he just made plays,” Herrion said of Leissner, who is a freshman.
The visitors were able to spread the floor and attack the middle off the dribble, outmuscling the Bears on the way to the basket. Smith was a handful in that regard and scored on three drives into the lane to help UNH extend its lead to 51-39 with 3:57 remaining.
“It became too easy for them to score again,” Walsh said.
UMaine tried some post-isolation plays for Gloger, who was not able to connect.
UMaine applied full-court pressure and trapping in the half-court, which led to some turnovers and transition points during the final rally. Little scored six points and Calixte netted five to lead the hosts’ last-ditch 13-5 charge.
UNH went 3-for-6 from the foul line during that span, which helped the Bears claw back within two at 58-56 on Little’s driving layup with 24 seconds left.
Frank Okeke then made the first of two free throws for UNH, giving UMaine a chance to tie. Lawton short-armed an open 3-pointer with seven seconds to play, which led to a foul and two clinching foul shots by Miller with 5.2 seconds remaining.
“I feel like we lost focus,” Lawton said. “Once we got the lead, our intensity went down. We didn’t keep the same intensity we had fighting back.”
UMaine was again without the services of Garet Beal. The sophomore from Beals Island, who sat out Sunday’s game at Hartford with bruised ribs, was suited up Wednesday but did not play.
The Black Bears trailed only 23-20 at halftime after wiping out 13 points of a 16-point deficit.
New Hampshire led 19-3 at the 8:16 mark, but managed only three points for the remainder of the period.
UMaine tightened up its man-to-man/matchup during the rally and was more effective at limiting the Wildcats’ penetration. The hosts also did a solid job of limiting second shots and benefitted offensively from more transition opportunities.
“They defended us like we haven’t really been defended,” Herrion said. “They went under a lot of the ball-screen stuff that we run. They took our driving lanes away. They fronted the post. It was very hard for us to get it inside to Leissner and Armstrong.”
UMaine returns to action on Saturday with a 2 p.m. home game against first-place Albany in Bangor.