ORONO — Chris Treister threw five touchdown passes and ran for another to lead Maine past Rhode Island 41-17 on Saturday.

The Black Bears (5-5, 4-3 Colonial Athletic Association) outscored the Rams 34-7 in the second half and controlled the clock throughout.

Maine rolled up 507 yards of offense for their fourth-straight 500-yard game against Rhode Island (1-9, 0-7).

Treister, who was 38-for-44 with 461 yards, and also ran for 33 yards on 12 carries, put the Black Bears up for good on a 23-yard run with 3:55 left in the third quarter.

Treister connected with Landis Williams on a 41-yard touchdown pass in the third to cap a 21-point quarter.

Williams finished with 17 catches for 220 yards and three TDs, and Tyrell Jones caught nine passes for 192 yards and a touchdown.

Chris Paul-Etienne finished with 137 yards and a touchdown on 13-for-31 for the Rams.

Hamilton 24, Bates 14

CLINTON, N.Y. — Lance Wilson came off the bench to throw two touchdown passes late in the fourth quarter as Hamilton College rallied for a 24-14 win against visiting Bates College in a NESCAC football game played at Steuben Field on Saturday. The Continentals’ (2-6) win is their first since 2003 against the Bobcats (1-7), limiting Bates’ win streak against Hamilton to five games.

Wilson relieved Dan Peters, who had an interception returned to Hamilton’s 1-yard line, and had a fumble brought back 59 yards for a Bobcats touchdown. Wilson finished 16-for-28 for 155 yards, and led the Continentals with 18 rushing yards. Ben Tomaszewski recorded five receptions for a game-high 108 yards, including a 67-yard catch-and-run for a score in the first quarter. Max Foster added seven receptions for 75 yards.

Hamilton’s defense limited Bates to 58 yards of offense and eight first downs. The Bobcats were 3-for-17 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth down conversions.

Bates’ Patrick George led all rushers with 42 yards and scored on a 1-yard plunge. First-year quarterback Trevor Smith  was 10-for-24 for 55 yards passing in his third start. Sophomore Kevin Helm paced a defense that allowed just 33 rushing yards with 11 tackles and an interception. Junior Myles Walker added nine stops, including one of the team’s four sacks.

With Hamilton trailing 14-10 and 9 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Wilson led the Continentals on a 12-play drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Cray on the left sideline. Wilson completed 7 of 10 passes on the drive and ran for 14 yards.

The Bobcats, now trailing 17-14, threw three straight incomplete passes on the next drive and gave the ball back to Hamilton at the Continentals’ 44 with 4:02 left. Wilson completed a 31-yard pass to Foster as Foster fell out-of-bounds at the Bates 25. On fourth-and-3 at the 18, Wilson dropped back and lobbed a pass to McCullough Shriver, who caught the ball near the 15-yard line. Shriver eluded several defenders and sprinted into the end zone for the game-clinching touchdown with 1:46 remaining.

The Bobcats scored first, following Helm’s 32-yard interception return, which brought Bates to the Hamilton 1. George ran it in from there on the next play, and Segall-Abrams’ extra point made it 7-0 with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

Maine Maritime captures NEFC crown

MILTON, Mass. — Senior wide receiver Alex Coulombe caught a deflected pass in the end zone as time expired, lifting Maine Maritime to a 48-42 win over Curry in the New England Football Conference Championship (NEFC) game. With the victory, the Mariners (9-1) will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament, having secured the league’s automatic bid.

With the score tied 42-42 and 32 seconds remaining in regulation, Maine Maritime began its final drive at its own 40 yard line. On a 4th-and-1 from the Mariner 49, Curry (8-3) was called for a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, which gave the visitors a first down on the Colonels’ 36. On the next play, senior quarterback Tyler Angell (Leeds) threw to the end zone where his pass was deflected by Curry junior free safety Bobby Driscoll but then caught by Coulombe for the winning score.

The Colonels dominated play early in the contest, building leads of 14-0 and 21-6. Curry got three rushing touchdowns in the first half: a 1-yard run by senior back Jamaal Woods, a 32-yard scamper by senior fullback John Sughrue , and a 30-yard dash by senior quarterback Zach Cavanaugh.

Maine Maritime closed the gap to 21-20 at the half, responding to Cavanaugh’s score with a 1-yard touchdown run by Angell and a 7-yard scamper by senior fullback and Championship Game MVP Jim Bower (South Paris).

Bower gave his team its first lead of the day at 9:55 of the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge, but the Colonels pulled even at 28-28 less than three minutes later on a 2-yard scoring pass from Cavanaugh to senior wide receiver Jon Rodriguez .

The two teams would then trade a pair of touchdowns that resulted in the 42-42 tie with 42 seconds remaining. Bower ran for his third score of the day from 5 yards out at 2:45 of the third frame. Curry went ahead by a point 35-34 with 11:11 remaining in the game when Cavanaugh found senior tight end Jeff Hibbard in the corner of the end zone from 27 yards out. A 1-yard run by Angell at 3:23 put the Mariners back on top 42-35, but again the Colonels responded, tying the contest after a Cavanaugh 6-yard touchdown run.

Maine Maritime rolled up 452 yards of total offense to 394 yards for Curry, but rushing yards were nearly even, with Curry holding a slight edge, 345-342.

Bower led all rushers with 166 yards on 37 carries, followed by sophomore running back Nick Bourassa (Jay) with 77 yards on seven attempts. Angell rushed for 66 yards and went 4-for-7 in pass attempts for 110 yards. Senior linebacker Travis Fergola (Mexico) collected nine tackles (6 solo) and had a key fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.

Maine Maritime captured its first outright NEFC title since 1993 and its ninth overall, and will now await the release of the NCAA Tournament Field of 32 pairings on Sunday.

Bowdoin 32, Colby 27

BRUNSWICK — The Bowdoin College football team scored 23 unanswered points to start the second half and forced the first three-way CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) Championship tie since 1995, defeating Colby 32-27 on Saturday. The Polar Bears close the season with a 3-5 record while the Mules end at 4-4 overall. In addition, Bowdoin’s 15-member senior class completes a perfect 4-0 career against their rivals from Waterville, becoming the first Polar Bear senior class to turn the trick since 1987.

Bowdoin, Bates and Colby each finished with an identical 1-1 mark against each other in the historic rivalry between the Maine schools. Bowdoin had won the last three CBB crowns and forced the first three-way tie in 14 seasons and just the fourth three-way tie overall (1965, ’79 and ’95).

Cross Country

Bates women place 11th

CUMBERLAND— Led by senior Esther Kendall’s All-New England performance, the Bates College women’s cross country team took 11th place out of 47 teams Saturday at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships at Twinbrook Recreation Area.

The Bobcats scored 317 points to edge Tufts (327) for 11th place.

Kendall placed 34th out of 315 competitors overall with a time of 22:53.7 over 6 kilometers, earning her first All-New England honors, which go to the top 35 finishers at the meet. Kendall is Bates’ first All-Region women’s cross country runner since former All-American Kathryn Moore ’07 in 2006.

Sophomore Jenny Monsulick (Readfield) stepped up to place 77th in 24:00.6, while first-year Lindsay Cullen and senior Ngoc Pham  also ran excellent races, finishing 105th (24:33.5) and 113th (24:43.4), respectively.

The University of Southern Maine women’s cross country team completed its 2009 season with a 19th-place finish among the 47 teams competing at the NCAA New England Regional Championships held in rainy conditions.

The Huskies finished with 598 points en route to their second straight top 20 finish. MIT and Middlebury College tied for the team title with 63 points apiece, and earned the region’s two automatic berths into next weekend’s NCAA National Championship race in Cleveland, Ohio. Williams College was third with 99 points, followed by Amherst College with 116 and Wesleyan University with 159.

Leading the Huskies was junior Carly Dion, who finished 47th among the 315 finishers, covering the 6,000-meter course in a time of 23 minutes, 9.2 seconds. Dion improved 60 positions over her 2008 finish.

At-large team and individual berths are scheduled to be announced by the NCAA on Sunday at 3 p.m.

The University of Maine at Farmington men’s cross country team closed out its season with a 36th-place finish at the NCAA Division III New England Championships at Twin Brook Recreational Area today.

Williams College won the event with 53 points with Amherst College (104), Keene State College (132), Brandeis University (145) and Bowdoin College (153) rounding out the top five. Farmington collected 1071 points in the 48-team field.

Cam Betts (Gray) placed 140th to lead the Beavers with a time of 28:03.4 on the 8K course. Pat Pozzetti at 223rd in 29:48.2, Kel Cenga at 227th in 29:54.7, Jacob Gomberg (Winthrop) at 233rd in 30:00.8 and Jeremiah Roper at 248th in 30:25.3 completed Farmington’s scoring.

The University of Maine at Farmington women’s cross country team finished its season with a 23rd-place finish at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championship. The Beavers totaled 734 points in the 47-team field.

Molly Carl led the Beavers in 109th with a time of 24:38.1 on the 5K course. Emily Farley at 116th in 24:50.5, Caitlin Miller at 131st at 25:05.4, Salena Sykes at 182nd in 26:02.3 and Meaghan Champagne at 196th at 26:13.7 completed Farmington’s scoring.

Women’s basketball

Navy Prep 60, CMCC 4

AUBURN — Teronda Brown led four Navy Prep players in double figures with 13 points as the Rams spoiled the season opener for Central Maine Community College with a 60-44 victory on Saturday.

The Mustangs came out strong on both ends of the floor, kept the Rams (1-0) off balance with full-court pressure and built an eight-point lead in the opening five minutes. The Rams came back behind Brown’s 10 first half points, led 31-26 at the break and held the Mustangs without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the second half.

Sara Martin paced the Mustang offense with 11 points, Tiffany Lougee added eight and Teira Durgin contributed seven. Carrie Hayden and Christy McAuliffe led the defensive effort. Maressa Guynn and Alex Membreno each scored 12 points for the Rams and Kacey Liscomb added 11.

Maine 61, Central Connecticut 58

ORONO — With five seconds left in regulation and the game tied at 58-58, America East Player of the Game Amanda Tewksbury knocked down a 3-pointer to give the University of Maine a 61-58 victory over the Central Connecticut to open the women’s basketball season Friday.

Tewksbury led the way for Maine with 20 points and nine rebounds on 9-19 shooting. Samantha Wheeler was Maine’s other double-digit scorer, netting 12 points while going 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. 

The Black Bears return to action Tuesday when they travel to Cambridge, Mass., for 7 p.m. showdown with Harvard University.

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