The University of Maine men’s basketball team shot a blistering 73.1 percent from the floor and scored 50 points in the second half of an 82-71 victory over Binghamton on Thursday night and the Black Bears continued to light up the scoreboard on Saturday afternoon.
Four players scored in double figures and UMaine shot 56.4 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc to beat Albany 87-66 at the Memorial Gym in Orono.
UMaine improved to 10-8 overall and 2-1 in America East while the Great Danes are 9-9 and 1-2, respectively.
It was UMaine’s fifth straight win over Albany.
It is the first time the Black Bears have scored at least 80 points in back-to-back Division I games under third-year head coach Chris Markwood.
And it is the first time it has happened since the 2019-20 season when the Black Bears beat UMass Lowell 104-98 and Binghamton 86-63 on Jan. 15 and Jan. 19.
Appalachian State (N.C.) transfer Christopher Mantis came off the bench and scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Black Bears. He went 6-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-8 beyond the 3-point arc.
The graduate student forward has now scored in double figures four times in his last six games after doing so just twice in his previous 12.
Senior guard-forward A.J. Lopez and junior guard Jayden Clayton had 16 points apiece and graduate student guard Kellen Tynes added 10.
Lopez, who has reached double figures 14 times this season and has now averaged 20.3 points per game in his three conference games, also had two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Clayton had six assists and two steals to go with his 16 points and Tynes had seven assists and five steals, both game-highs, to accompany his 10 points.
Tynes now has 15 steals and 15 assists in his three conference games.
He began the day second in the country with his 56 steals.
Sophomore guard Logan Carey produced nine points and three assists and senior guard-forward Quion Burns finished with seven points and a game-high nine rebounds to go with two assists.
Senior forward Kacper Klaczek paced the Great Danes with 16 points and seven rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Amar’e Marshall had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists; senior guard DeMarr Langford Jr. had 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals and junior guard Kheni Briggs chipped in with 10 points and two assists.
Redshirt junior forward Justin Neely had eight points, six rebounds and two assists.
The Black Bears used an 8-3 run to close out the first half and build a 43-31 lead.
Mantis had a pair of threes off passes from Lopez and Clayton and they sandwiched a Lopez fast-break dunk.
The Black Bears sewed up the victory with a 17-5 run to start the second half that expanded the lead to 60-36.
Both teams will return to action on Thursday as UMaine will hit the road to take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 11 a.m. while Albany will host Bryant (R.I.) at 6:30.
