Orono, ME - The University of Maine men's basketball program used a big second half to defeat Binghamton on Thursday night, 82-71.

After trailing early in the game, the Black Bears found their rhythm on both ends of the floor as they used a 7-2 run to tie the contest up at 17-17 with just under 11 minutes to play in the first half.

Binghamton pushed the lead out to double-digits at 36-25 with under 4 minutes remaining in the first half before Maine got it back down to single digits before halftime thanks to some late buckets from Kellen Tynes and Christopher Mantis as the score stood at 40-32 in favor of the Bearcats.

AJ Lopez led all scorers with 11 points as he shot 3-for-7 from the field with three three-pointers.

Tynes had 8 points, 3 assists and 3 steals while Mantis had 6 points off the bench to round out the top-three scorers for the Black Bears.

The Black Bears opened up the second half shooting 7-for-8 from the field as they tied the contest up at 49-49 on the back of a 10-0 run with 15 minutes left in the second half.

Maine grabbed their first lead since 11:33 in the first half on a Killian Gribben alley-oop dunk at 13:07 in the second half.

Maine continued to gain momentum as they built their lead up to double-digits at 76-66 on a 11-2 run that forced a Binghamton timeout with 4:49 remaining in the contest.

Maine was able to maintain their double-digit lead as they came away with the victory, 82-71.

Tynes led the way with 25 points on the night, along with 6 assists and 6 steals.

Lopez made it back-to-back games of scoring 20+ points as he had 21 and a pair of steals.

Quion Burns had 10 second half points while Gribben had 6 points and 3 blocks.

Maine (9-8, 1-1 AE) continues America East action at home as they host UAlbany on Saturday, Jan. 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 PM.

-UMaine-