ORONO — Pushaun Brown rushed for 144 yards and the Black Bear defense shined as the No. 13 University of Maine football team defeated UMass 32-21 on Senior Day on Saturday.

Maine is now 8-2 overall and 6-1 in CAA play while Massachusetts falls to 5-5.

Brian Harvey got Maine on the scoreboard first as he nailed a 22-yard field goal midway through the first quarter.

UMass responded with a Jesse Julmiste 17-yard touchdown reception from Raymond Pendagast with 9:21 left in the first half.

Brown gave the Black Bears the lead two minutes later with a 12-yard run, but the Minutemen scored just before halftime on a Jonathan Hernandez 2-yard rush to take a 14-10 lead.

Shane Viveiros ran back an interception for a score a minute into the second half, increasing the lead to 21-10 for the Minutemen, but UMass did not score again.

Maine responded with a 30-yard field goal from Harvey with 3:14 left in the third before the Black Bear defense took over.

With just over three minutes left in the quarter, Erwin Roach forced Pendagast to fumble, and Troy Russell  grabbed the ball in midair and ran it back 60 yards for the score.

The Black Bears could not convert the two-point conversion, but were within two at 21-19 going into the fourth quarter.

Each team had opportunities in the fourth, but it was Arron Achey’s  interception deep in UMass territory that set up Warren Smith’s go-ahead touchdown with 3:26 left that proved to be the difference.

Maine added an insurance TD when Pendagast was trying to pass out of his own end zone, and Russell caused a fumble that was recovered by Michael Cole for the final score.

Achey finished with a team-high 12 tackles, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss to go along with the interception while Vinson Givans had 11 and Jerron McMillian  seven with 2.0 tackles-for-loss.

Hamilton 28, Bates 15

CLINTON, N.Y. — Jordan Eck tied a career high with three touchdown passes to lead Hamilton College to a 28-15 win over Bates College in a NESCAC football game at Hamilton’s Steuben Field on Saturday.

Despite the loss, Bates finished with its best record since 2002 at 3-5. The Bobcats also claimed a three-way share of the CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) title, by virtue of Bowdoin’s win over Colby. Bates beat Bowdoin last week but lost at Colby the week before.

With only its second win over Bates in the past eight years, Hamilton (3-5) won more than two games in a season for the first time since 1996. Bates failed in its bid for the Bobcats’ first .500 season since 1999. The all-time series between the schools is now tied at 17 wins apiece.

Eck was 21 of 34 for 250 yards with one interception — Bates junior Kyle Starr’s conference-leading fifth pickoff this year. Garrett Hoy caught six passes for a career-best 94 yards and was 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts. James Stanell ran for 52 yards and one touchdown and added 24 receiving yards. Patrick Donadio caught two TD passes and Ryan Cray had one.

Bates junior quarterback Trevor Smith completed 18 of 43 passes for 181 yards. Smith netted seven yards rushing to finish with 188 yards of total offense to break Bates’ single-season record for total offense with 1,688 (187 rushing, 1,501 passing). Matt Bazirgan (’00) held the former team record with 1,679 yards in 1999.

Sophomore Ryan Curit finished his stellar season with 76 rushing yards on 11 carries, along with a game-high seven receptions for 71 yards. Junior running back Patrick George rushed for two touchdowns, giving him five visits to the end zone in two weeks, as part of his 15-carry, 73-yard day.

The Bobcats racked up 178 rushing yards to finish the season with 1,266 total, the team’s most since 2003.

Senior captain Kevin Helm led the Bates defense with nine tackles, including a sack. First-year Gilbert Brown and senior Brett McAllister posted seven stops apiece.

Bates held a 359-319 advantage in total yards, but was just 1 of 4 on red zone chances.

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