University of Maine
Binghamton
Men's Basketball Downs Binghamton 76-61 in America East Opener
1/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
VESTAL, N.Y. – Alasdair Fraser (Falkirk, Scotland) scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Justin Edwards (Whitby, Ontario) had 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Maine men's basketball team to a 76-61 win at Binghamton in its America East opener on Monday evening. The Black Bears improve to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in league play while Binghamton falls to 0-13 and 0-1 in conference play.
Mike Allison (Lynden, Ontario) blocked Binghamton's first two shots, and the Black Bears went on a 16-to-9 run to open the game with Kilian Cato (Espoo, Finland) nailing a three to cap the run, which also included an alley-oop dunk by Allison from Edwards.
After the Bearcats made it 16-13, Maine went on an 8-to-nothing run with Raheem Singleton (Boston, Mass.) going in for a layup and a foul to cap the run.
Maine got up by as many as 18 at 38-20 with just under three minutes left, and an alley-oop by Edwards from Singleton put Maine up 16 just before halftime. The Bearcats answered with a three at the buzzer to get within 40-27.
Edwards had four points, four rebounds and four assists in the first half while Alasdair Fraser had nine points and three rebounds. Allison had two points to go with three rebounds and three blocks while Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif.) added seven points.
Maine shot 50 percent from the field while keeping Binghamton at 41.4 percent.
The Bearcats scored the first basket of the second half, but Edwards drove down the lane drawing three defenders and dished it to Fraser for an easy bucket.
Binghamton then got hot from the field, closing the lead to 44-39 with 15 minutes left.
Cato responded for Maine, driving the lane and making a layup while getting fouled and following that up with a fastbreak bucket with an assist from Andrew Rogers (Philadlephia, Pa.).
The pesky Bearcats refused to go away, and got within 51-48 with 10:17 left.
Fraser made a free throw and Edwards hit a jumper while hanging in the air to give Maine a six-point lead. Edwards then found Fraser for a layup and the foul to give the Black Bears a nine-point lead.
Binghamton could not get closer than seven the rest of the way as Maine won its second-straight America East opener.
Fraser was named Maine's America East Player of the Game.
