BANGOR, Maine – A career game from Andrew Fleming and an improved shooting performance in all aspects proved to be enough, as the Maine Black Bears picked up its first victory of the Richard Barron era, in a double-overtime thriller against Fordham on Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Center.
 
The Black Bears (1-8) outscored the Rams (6-2) 12-5 in the second overtime to take home its first victory, 75-68. The victory marked Maine's first win over an Atlantic-10 squad since the Black Bears downed UMass 68-56 on Dec. 8, 2010 at the Mullins Center.

"In a game like this that's so close you need the contributions of everybody," said Barron after the game. "I give a lot of credit to Celio Araujo for the way he ran the show today and gave us a lot of minutes after not playing in some of the other games. I thought he was ready and prepared and it was a little bit like a Jalen Hurts moment for him.
 
"It's a game that will obviously give us some confidence and we still have a lot of room for improvement but I thought we did a much better job after the first 10 minutes of defending them and that defensive run we kind of went on there at the end of the first half was enough to kind of give us some confidence going into the second half."
 
Fleming's monster game came on an efficient 11-for-14 shooting performance, which included 4-of-5 of his shots falling in from 3-point land. He completed his first double-double performance since playing Fordham last season with 12 rebounds. He turned the ball over just twice, while dishing out three assists and swatting a shot in 50 minutes played. He gave credit to the offensive system and the open looks his teammates created for him.
 
"I'm just believing in myself and knowing that my teammates believe in me and really just sticking to the offense and what we want to execute," Fleming said following the first win of the season. "I'm just taking open shots and working in the post with my teammates.
 
"I wanted to come out ready tonight and my teammates got me a lot open shots. So it's not like I was taking contested shots and I was just in rhythm with the open shots that my teammates created for me."
 
Isaiah White tallied 10 points to supplement Fleming, while Vincent Eze and Vilgot Larsson registered nine and eight points respectively. Eze also grabbed eight caroms off the glass in an impressive performance off the bench.  
 
It was Fordham that took control at first, starting the game on an 11-2 sprint, with Maine's lone field goal in the first five minutes coming off a thunderous Fleming dunk. Fordham increased the lead to 11 points at 17-6, but Maine back-to-back triples by Fleming brought the Black Bears to within five at 17-12.
 
The Rams added a triple to take an eight point lead. Fleming added a free throw a few minutes later, as Maine trailed by seven with 6:50 left in the first half. Once again, Fleming knocked down a triple, to cut the deficit to 20-16. Following a Rams jumper, White drained a deep trey to make it a 3-point game with 2:28 remaining in the first frame.
 
Fleming added two more buckets late in the first half, finishing the first 20 minutes with 18 of Maine's 23 points. He shot 7-of-8 from the floor, sinking all 3 of his 3-pointers. Maine entered the locker room down just one point at 24-23.
 
The two squads meeting for the fourth-time ever traded buckets to start the second frame, with neither team taking a larger lead than three points until a 5-0 run featuring two Eze free throws and a triple from Araujo. The Rams cut the advantage to just two points, but a 3-pointer from White gave Maine a five-point lead at 49-44.
 
Fordham didn't quit, bring the the Black Bear lead down to just a point a 52-51 with 1:08 remaining in regulation. Fleming sunk two free throws with 16 seconds left, but the Rams nailed a jumper with eight seconds left to make it 1-point game. Larsson went 1-for-2 from the line on the next possession, as the Rams made two free throws with just a second left on the clock to force overtime.
 
The Rams scored first in the first overtime period, but Maine erased Fordham leads on three different occasions in the period, as both teams scored eight points in the extra five. minutes. Maine trailed by three points with 1:46 left, as Eze dunked in two points with 33 seconds left, and converted a free throw attempt with 11 seconds to force another overtime. 
 
Once again Fordham would strike out of the gate with a trey, but Sergio El Darwich erased the advantage with two free throws and a layup, which gave Maine a one-point lead at 67-66. The Rams retook the lead shortly after on free throw, but the Black Bears would not allow Fordham to score in the 1:50 of the contest, draining eight consecutive from the charity stripe to put the game on ice.
 
Jalen Cobb led Fordham with 18 points, while Nick Honor registered 16 points and Jesse Bunting put up nine points.
 
Maine returns to the hardwood on Saturday, taking on Dartmouth in Hanover. The opening tip at Leede Arena is set for 2:00 p.m.
 
-UMaine-