Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program defeated UAlbany to move to 2-1 in America East action with a 87-66 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Maine jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on three-straight made buckets to open the game.

Albany grabbed a brief lead at 10-8 before Maine battled back in front and pushed the lead out to eight points at 24-16 with 7 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Black Bears got their lead up to double-digits at 31-18 following a corner three from Logan Carey with 5 minutes remaining in the first half.

Maine held onto their double-digit lead into the break as they lead 43-31 at halftime.

Kellen Tynes filled up the stat sheet as he had 8 points, 5 assists and 4 steals.

AJ Lopez and Christopher Mantis both had 9 points to pace the Black Bears in scoring.

Jaden Clayton had 6 points, 4 assists and a steal.

The Black Bears opened their lead up in the second half with a 10-2 run to make it a 20-point contest at 53-33.

Maine never took their foot off of the gas pedal as they were able to pick up their second-largest margin of victory in an America East game under Coach Markwood at a final score of 87-66.

Mantis led all scorers as he had 17 off the bench for the Black Bears.

Tynes finished with 10 points, 7 assists and 5 steals.

Clayton and Lopez both had 16 points for the Black Bears and Quion Burns had a game-high 9 rebounds.

Maine (10-8, 2-1 AE) heads on the road for their next three conference games, starting with NJIT on Thursday, Jan. 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 11 AM.

-UMaine-