CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — It was left to freshman Ilija Stojilkovic to offer the most honest and succinct summary of the performance of his Maine men’s basketball team Sunday.

“They just played quicker and faster than us,” Stojilkovic said after Maine was swamped by Boston College 91-60 before an announced crowd of 1,411 at the Conte Forum. “They were outrunning us and they were better than us in every way.”

It was a fourth consecutive loss for the Black Bears (2-7), and a marked contrast to the team’s effort here a year ago in an 85-74 loss.

Maine Coach Bob Walsh made it clear he wasn’t interested in comparing the two games. This year’s team, in his second season, is much younger. Five freshmen combined to play 92 minutes for the Black Bears on Sunday, and another, Issac Vann, would have gotten considerable time if not for an ankle injury that has kept him out of the past five games. Maine’s four healthy upperclassmen saw only 58 minutes of court time.

“It’s still a work in progress trying to figure it out,” Walsh said of dividing up playing time. “I really like the mentality of the young guys. Our young guys can really fight even when they’re physically overwhelmed. That’s going to bode well for them long-term.”

The good news for Maine is that it is done playing high-major competition this year. The Black Bears earned $255,000 for games at Connecticut, Marquette and Boston College, and lost them by a total of 112 points.

Boston College (4-6), the weakest team of that trio, had more than enough firepower to snap its six-game losing streak.

Maine fell behind 16-3 in the opening 5 minutes, but battled back to cut the lead to 27-24 with 4:23 remaining in the first half. That’s when Eagles Coach Jim Christian instructed his players to turn up the full-court pressure. The Black Bears committed four turnovers in the ensuing 2 1/2 minutes of play and BC closed the half on a 17-5 run to take a 15-point lead into the locker room. The Eagles scored the first 11 points of the second half to turn the game into a laugher. Two minutes into the half, Walsh replaced his entire starting five.

“I thought we fought extremely hard when we weren’t playing well. We were turning the ball over; obviously there’s a physical mismatch, and then Jim did a great job,” Walsh said of the first half. “He put their pressure on and I thought we were prepared to handle it, and we weren’t. We go against it every day. I thought we would attack it. We didn’t handle it well and from there out we weren’t able to fight back.”

In that decisive stretch, guard Kevin Little committed three turnovers and senior Shaun Lawton had the other. Those two played 26 minutes in the first half, but just 10 in the second as Walsh used 13 players. Twelve of them scored, led by Garet Beal with nine points.

Stojilkovic, who had started Maine’s first eight games, came off the bench this time and played 21 minutes. He finished with four points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists. But the native of Serbia didn’t want to discuss his performance.

“This was really a pretty winnable game. We were able to compete with them,” he said.

“They sped us up, we lost our composure on offense and that was it. In the second half, we didn’t show enough effort and they basically crushed us. I think I can do a lot better. If we’re losing by 30, then I’m not playing good.”

Maine will try to get on track Saturday at Fordham. Vann, who averaged 15.8 points in the Black Bears’ first four games, said he’s hopeful to be back for that one. There are four non-conference games remaining before America East play begins. Maine is looking to improve on last year’s 3-27 record, and it’s becoming obvious that Walsh feels his large class of freshmen give the team the best chance of doing that. He said he’s been happy with the progress he’s seeing in practice, although it’s not yet transferring to games.

Beal, a junior from Beal’s Island, thinks that’s just a matter of time.

“I think we have guys that really care about the program. We come to practice, work hard every day,” he said. “I think it’s a lot of fun the way we carry ourselves in practice. It’s just how we translate that onto the game flow for 40 minutes, and I think we’re going to make it eventually.”