For Immediate Release: February 11, 2007
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton men's basketball rolls over Maine 67-40
Forbes, Gordon net 18 each; Trifunovic records double-double

Box Score

VESTAL, N.Y. - Junior guard Richard Forbes (Far Rockaway, N.Y.) sparked a 20-4 first-half run with 10 consecutive points and Binghamton (11-14, 4-9 America East) rolled to a 67-40 win over Maine (11-14, 6-7 AE) in a men's basketball game Sunday afternoon from the Events Center. A season-high crowd of 4,587 saw the Bearcats snap a two-game skid and move into eighth place in the standings.

Binghamton led 6-5 before limiting Maine to just two field goals in the decisive run, which spanned 9:34. With the Bearcats up 12-5, Forbes hit back-to-back jumpers and then followed with a pair of three-pointers - all in a stretch of 3:50. Binghamton took a 38-17 lead into intermission and didn't allow the Black Bears closer than 19 points the rest of the way. After shooting 51% in the first meeting between the two teams in Orono, the Black Bears hit just 13 field goals (29%) and were outrebounded 46-28.

"I'm really proud of the boys," said head coach Al Walker. "We asked them to come out and be a better team - the one they are capable of - and they did that today. We did a good job defensively and got to the glass. We also had a nice array of sharing the ball and getting different people involved. This was a good win as we come down the home stretch of the regular season."

Forbes scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half and freshman forward Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) notched 10 of his 15 points in the opening period. Trifunovic added 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. Junior guard Mike Gordon (Plainfield, N.J.) collected 18 points and five steals and junior center Giovanni Olomo (Yaounde, Cameroon) grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds.

Maine was led by senior guard Kevin Reed, who tallied 13 points.

Binghamton next plays at New Hampshire on February 15.

NOTES:
Forbes and Reed were selected as the America East Players of the Game ... the 21-point halftime lead was BU's largest of the season, surpassing the 15-point margin against North Florida on Dec. 18. The 17 first-half points allowed also were the fewest of the season as were the 40 points allowed in the game (51 vs. UMBC on Jan. 28) ... the last time BU had two players with double-figure rebounds was against New Hampshire on January 5, 2006 ... the margin of victory (27) was the third-largest in Events Center history, behind the 28-point win over Maine (84-56) last February 5 and the 28-point win over Hartford (66-38) on Feb. 2, 2005.