DURHAM, N.H. — That’s exactly what worried University of New Hampshire Coach Bill Herrion.

“They’re very capable of getting it turned around,” Herrion said before his team took on the University of Maine on Tuesday night. “They’ve got a lot of pieces.”

The Black Bears put those pieces back on display last night in Lundholm Gymnasium and, looking more like the team that started the America East Conference 8-1 than the team that had lost its last six games, rolled to a 70-53 win over UNH.

Seniors Gerald McLemore and Sean McNally, the center out of Gardiner, took turns leading the Black Bears, who improved to 15-13 overall and 9-6 in the league.

“We desperately needed this win,” McLemore said. “Our goal in these last two games was to take it like a brand-new season.”

McLemore made 12 of 12 foul shots and finished with 26 points, his best total of the season and a point shy of a career high.

Forward Troy Barnies, another senior, added 10 points and six rebounds.

Maine locked up the third seed in the league tournament with the win and still has a shot at second place.

The Black Bears close out the regular season with a home game against Albany on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Albany is 14-15 and 7-7 going into a game at home tonight against UMBC.

“Getting this win is big for us,” McNally said. “It’s UNH. We were going out in these last two games and hopefully we can build some momentum going into the tournament.”

New Hampshire falls to 12-16 and 6-9.

The Wildcats had all kinds of problems with McLemore early and the 6-foot-7, 255-pound McNally in the second half.

McNally matched his season-high with 14 points and collected a season’s-best nine rebounds.

“Rebounding is something that’s been my forte through my career and I kind of lost sight of that a little this year,” McNally said. “Maybe it was confidence. Tonight happened to be my night on the court for getting my hands on the ball, tipping balls back and getting a lot of rebounds and put backs. I was happy.”

The Black Bears worked their way to a 35-25 lead at the half.

McLemore, held to nine points total in Maine’s last two games, had a dozen at the break.

Maine extended its lead to start the second half. A McNally put-back and a Terrance Mitchell foul shot got Maine its largest lead yet at 50-35 with 11:25 to go.

For Maine’s next basket, McNally missed a tip-in with his right hand, switched up and tipped it in with his left, and it was up to 52-36 and the Black Bears were on their way.

“They manhandled us,” Herrion said. “They pounded us physically inside. We had no answers for McLemore. He did what he wanted. We weren’t stopping anybody.”

The Black Bears defended well on the perimeter and harassed UNH into a 3-for-20 shooting night from beyond the 3-point line.

Maine didn’t make a single three-pointer, missing all eight of its attempts. Didn’t matter.

“I thought our guys did a great job playing defense, rebounding, sharing the basketball on the offensive end,” Maine Coach Ted Woodward said. “I thought we had a lot of contributions across the board tonight.”

 

Copy the Story Link