The University of Maine scored 18 consecutive points early in the second half and went on to defeat Binghamton 82-75 in an America East men’s basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Vestal, New York.
The Black Bears (7-17 overall, 3-7 AE) ended a four-game losing streak, while Binghamton (8-15, 2-8 AE) dropped into sole possession of last place in the conference standings.
Redshirt junior forward Nedeljko Prijovic led the Black Bears to their second win of the season over Binghamton with 24 points — including 6 of 11 shooting from 3-point land — and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes. Senior forward Andrew Fleming made 9 of 12 shots — including five dunks — en route to 23 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Senior point guard Sergio El Darwich added 22 points, six rebounds and four assists for coach Richard Barron’s club.
Binghamton took a 38-37 lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by freshman George Tinsley, but UMaine countered with 3 pointers by Prijovic and El Darwich and a two-handed slam by Fleming to give the Black Bears a 45-38 cushion with 16:56 remaining.
Two more 3-pointers by Prijovic extended the lead to 51-48 before another slam by Fleming and a Stephane Ingo (four blocked shots) layup gave UMaine a game-high 17-point lead and prompted a Binghamton timeout with 13:09 to play.
UMaine held Binghamton scoreless for a stretch of 6 minutes, 18 seconds before Richard Caldwell Jr.’s 3-pointer with 12:01 left cut the Black Bears’ lead to 55-41.
Binghamton drew within 69-61 on a three-point play by Caldwell with 2:53 left, but layups by freshman Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish and Fleming pushed UMaine’s lead back to double digits at 73-61 with two minutes remaining.
Binghamton mounted one last run. Two free throws by Tinsley closed the gap to 76-67 with 59 seconds left, then Sam Sessoms stole the inbounds pass and fed Tinsley for a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game at 76-70 with still 52 seconds to play.
But Privoic blocked a drive by Sessoms on Binghamton’s next possession and El Darwich made two from the free-throw line to give the Black Bears an eight-point edge. While a Sessoms layup got the Bearcats back within 78-72 with 32 seconds left, two more free throws by El Darwich and a layup by Prijovic more than offset a late 3-pointer by Sessoms.
UMaine shot 58.8 percent (30 of 51) from the field for the game compared to 35.8 percent (24 of 67) for Binghamton, which made 15 of its 44 3-point tries. UMaine was 9 of 22 from beyond the arc.
Caldwell led Binghamton with 20 points, while Tingley had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Sessoms finished with 13 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
A Prijovic layup off an assist by Vilgot Larsson with 23 seconds left gave UMaine a 35-33 lead at the end of a tightly contested first half.
The game’s first 20 minutes featured 14 lead changes, and neither UMaine nor Binghamton led by more than four points.
Fleming, who sat out UMaine’s 77-52 loss at Vermont on Wednesday due to a back injury, returned to action against Binghamton and made an immediate impact with a game-high 12 first-half points.
UMaine concludes a stretch of three straight road games on Wednesday night at UMass Lowell.
