ORONO – Chris Bruff scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds Saturday to lead Maine past Binghamton 69-64 and snap a six-game losing streak.

The Black Bears (6-11, 1-3 America East) earned their conference victory of the season in outshooting Binghamton (8-9, 1-4 America East) 51 percent to 34 percent for the game.

Maine jumped out to an 11-3 lead to start the game and went into halftime with a 35-33 lead behind the shooting of Kevin Reed, who finished with 19 points.

Binghamton closed to within four points with under four minutes to go, but was unable to capitalize on the Black Bears’ poor foul shooting. Maine shot just 9 of 22 from the foul line in the final 11 minutes.

Lazar Trifunovic and Troy Hailey led the Bearcats with 14 points each.

Middlebury 81, Bowdoin 58

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Middlebury jumped out to a 41-20 first half lead with hot shooting and continued its assault in the second half as the Panthers downed Bowdoin 81-58 in a NESCAC men’s basketball clash.

Andrew Harris led all scorers with 17 points, including five from behind the arc for the Panthers. Matt Westman, Kyle Dudley, and Chris Dowd all netted eight points apiece in the win as 13 different players entered the scoring column for Middlebury (11-3). Andrew Hippert led Bowdoin (7-5) with 12 points, while Darian Reid-Sturgis chipped in with 11 points.

Keene State 81, USM 56

GORHAM – Junior forward Nick Drouin scored a team-high 17 points and hauled down eight rebounds to lead Keene State to an 81-56 victory over the University of Southern Maine in LEC men’s basketball action Saturday.

The Owls (13-1) outscored Southern Maine 15-5 in the opening five minutes and led by 18 points (29-11), following a 3-pointer from junior guard David Sontag at the 8:16 mark of the first half. Sophomore forward Tyler Kathan added a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior forward Drew Coppenrath paced the Huskies (4-10) with 14 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Martin Jordan chipped in with nine points off the bench.

Amherst 79, Bates 64

LEWISTON – Amherst, the No. 2 ranked men’s basketball team in the nation, remained unbeaten with a 79-64 victory over Bates.

Amherst (14-0) shot 52 percent from the floor, including 44 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Bates (11-2) outrebounded the Lord Jeffs 44-29, with 24 coming off the offensive glass. The Bobcats could not take advantage, shooting a cool 33 percent.

Rob Stockwell led Bates with 20 points and eight rebounds. Chris Wilson and Jimmy O’Keefe added 10 points each.

UMF 96, Becker 61

WORCESTER, Mass. – The University of Maine at Farmington built a 45-15 lead by halftime and coasted to a 96-61 triumph over Becker.

The Beavers (5-8) were led by Sean Fry with 25 points and Matt St. John with 24.

Fry also had nine rebounds, while Ted Neil added 10 points.

Men’s hockey

Bowdoin 6, Middlebury 2

BOWDOIN – First-year goaltender Chris Rossi turned away 41 shots and the Bowdoin defense stopped all seven Middlebury power plays to upend the Panthers 6-2 at Dayton Arena in NESCAC men’s hockey action.

Duncan Smith opened the scoring for Bowdoin 14:33 into the first period before Middlebury’s Samuel Driver knotted the score with just over a minute in the first period. Mike Westerman put Bowdoin (8-2-3) up for good with his fourth goal of the season to end the period.

Mike Corbelle added a goal and and assist in the second period. Westerman rounded out the scoring with a breakaway goal late in the third period. Doug Reader stopped 27 shots for Middlebury (7-5-1).

USM 6, Amherst 2

GORHAM – Mark Carragher broke a 2-2 tie with a third-period goal and assisted on three other scores as the University of Southern Maine sunk Amherst 6-2 in ECAC men’s hockey.

Chris Sparkes added a pair of goals and an assist while Dane Marshall assisted on three scores for the Huskies (9-5-1). USM goalie David Beckles made 31 saves in net while his counterpart Josh Fillman turned away 27 for Amherst (9-3-1).

Igor Karlov opened the scoring for the Huskies with an unassisted goal in the first period before Amherst’s Joel Covelli evened the score late in the period.

BU 3, Maine 0

ORONO – John Curry made 30 saves to help Boston University defeat Maine 3-0 on Saturday night.

Matt Gilroy, Dan McGoff and Chris Higgins scored for the Terriers (10-4-6, 7-3-7 Hockey East).

BU killed off all eight of the power-play chances for the Black Bears (14-5-2, 7-5-1).

Gilroy scored in the first period by backhanding his own rebound over Maine goalie Ben Bishop.

McGoff made it 2-0 in the second period when he chipped a pass from Brian McGuirk over Bishop’s right shoulder.

Higgins capped the scoring in the third period by sweeping home the rebound of a Pete McArthur shot from the point.

Bishop finished with 24 saves for Maine.

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