ERIE, Pa. — Maybe it was the early start to the game.

Maybe it was the deafening sound of kids screaming.

Maybe it was the opponent.

Whatever it was, the Maine Red Claws had a sluggish start to Tuesday’s game against the Erie BayHawks and got blown out 106-81 before 5,035 fans at Tullio Arena.

“If you’re asking me if they’re 30 points better than us, the answer is no,” Maine Coach Dave Leitao said. “If you ask me all the factors, there were many, but did that play a role?

“I wouldn’t like to think so but I don’t know. I know we weren’t sharp, mostly mentally.”

The Red Claws (15-23) trailed by as many as 31 points in the second half.

“You’ve got to take your medicine and our medicine was we got our behinds kicked,” Leitao said.

Having their “School Kids Jam,” the BayHawks started Tuesday’s game at 11 a.m. with thousands of students from schools all over the Erie area in attendance.

Every time Erie scored, kids enthusiastically screamed. Early on the BayHawks gave them numerous opportunities to shout, leading 32-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Erie shot 54.2 percent from the field, 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and limited Maine to 7-of-22 shooting.

“They beat us up and down the court,” Maine guard Kenny Hayes said. “Rebounded. Hit open shots. Played defense and we didn’t know how to react.”

Right from the start, Leitao knew his team wasn’t ready mentally.

“They scored the first two points of the game and we didn’t take the ball out of bounds,” he said. “We do that all day, every day. We weren’t mentally there.”

The Red Claws, who trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half, had no answer for Mychel Thompson.

The rookie forward was 5 of 6 from 3-point range en route to scoring 17 points in the first half. Thompson finished with a game-high 22 points, going 6 of 8 from long range.

“We allowed Mychel Thompson open looks, which nobody in the league should do,” Leitao said.

Using only eight players, Erie led 54-34 at the half. The BayHawks are on a season-best four-game winning streak.

“We should probably play all the games at 11 a.m. because we have not had good first halves this year,” Erie Coach Jay Larranaga said. “We talked about it after the last game and put a lot of pressure on ourselves to come out right away.”

Morris Almond led Maine with 17 points. Hayes followed up his career-high 52-point effort in Sunday’s win against Springfield with 13 on Tuesday.

The Red Claws arrived in Erie on Monday but tried not to use the game’s early start as an excuse.

“We practice at 11 o’clock,” Hayes said. “We just weren’t ready mentally or physically.”

Leitao said Maine doesn’t have 11 a.m. home games this season.

“To have a day for kids, that was sort of a field trip for kids,” Leitao said. “I think that’s good. If that’s the reason why you win or lose a game, you’re in tough shape.”

DeShawn Sims had 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting off the bench in his return to Maine from playing in Korea.

Sims, the 2011 D-League rookie of the year, played 17 minutes, 30 seconds.

“Just trying to get acclimated,” Sims said. “I just met the guys today. Most of them. Just a thing I got to come back and fit in. Try to play how I play and help the team.”

Maine returns to action Thursday at Fort Wayne.

 

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