FARMINGTON — Brandon Tomah scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half Tuesday night and the University of Southern Maine went on to down the University of Maine at Farmington 77-61 in a nonconference men’s basketball game.

USM (6-2) trailed by 12 early but went on a 23-5 run over the final 5:19 to take a 41-35 halftime lead against the Beavers (2-4).

Alex Kee and Chris Pagentine each scored 13 points, and Jeremy Jackson added 12 for USM.
Ben Johnson had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Beavers.

THOMAS 81, COLBY 79: Franklin Salvador sunk nine 3-pointers and finished with 33 points to lead visiting Thomas (4-3) over Colby (3-3) at Waterville.

(3) SYRACUSE 62, MARSHALL 56: Dion Waiters had 15 points and Kris Joseph had 11 and eight rebounds as Syracuse (9-0) outlasted visiting Marshall (5-2).

(4) NORTH CAROLINA 97, EVANSVILLE 48: Harrison Barnes scored 17 points to help North Carolina (7-2) beat Evansville (3-4) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

(10) MISSOURI 81, VILLANOVA 71: Marcus Denmon hit six 3-pointers and scored 28 points as Missouri (8-0) beat Villanova (5-3) in the Jimmy V Classic at New York.

(15) PITTSBURGH 97, VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 70: Ashton Gibbs scored 20 points and Pittsburgh (8-1) rolled to its sixth straight win, beating visiting VMI (5-3).

(21) MEMPHIS 71, MIAMI 54: Sophomore Will Barton had career highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds to help the Tigers (5-2) beat the host Hurricanes (5-3).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

SOUTHERN MAINE 74, SALEM STATE 60: Courtney Cochran scored 29 points and Haley Jordan added 25 to lead the Huskies (5-3) over Salem State (2-4), at Salem, Mass.

Cochran added 18 rebounds and Jordan had 10. Nicole Garland chipped in with 11 points.

The Huskies used a 23-9 run over the final 12 minutes of the first half to take a 40-26 lead. Cochran and Jordan combined for 32 of the Huskies’ 40 first-half points.

BOWDOIN 99, HUSSON 64: Emily Gould scored a career-high 25 points as Bowdoin (4-2) downed Husson (1-4) at Brunswick.

The Polar Bears set a school record with 66 points in the first half, shattering the previous record of 55 set in 1978 against Thomas.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 70, COLBY 63: Kelly Paradis scored 26 points, and Beth Suggs added 14 points and 17 rebounds to help the University of New England (5-1) beat Colby (5-1) in overtime at Waterville.

Diana Manduca of Colby forced overtime when she took the ball the length of the floor for a layup with 16 seconds remaining to make it 56-56. The Nor’easters scored the first six points of overtime and were 8 of 8 from the line in the final two minutes.

Lauren Rousseau had 14 points and was 5 of 6 from the foul line for UNE. Manduca paced the Mules with 21 points, five assists and five steals. Aarika Ritchie added 15 points.

BATES 112, THOMAS 47: Meredith Kelly scored 21 points in nine minutes as the Bobcats (5-1) coasted past Thomas (1-6) at Lewiston.

(2) CONNECTICUT 81, (8) TEXAS A&M 51: Tiffany Hayes and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis each scored 14 points to help Connecticut (8-0) rout Texas A&M (6-2) in the Jimmy V Classic at Hartford, Conn.

CROSS COUNTRY

SOUTHERN MAINE: Scott Hutchinson and George Towle were named Little East Conference Coaches of the Year. Both are now three-time winners.

FOOTBALL

MAINE: A pep rally will be held at noon today in the Maine Marketplace area of Memorial Union in Orono. The team is headed to Statesboro, Ga., to meet third-ranked Georgia Southern in the NCAA quarterfinals Saturday.