BOX

ORONO, Maine – Junior guards Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill.) and Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass.) scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, to lead four scorers in double digits, as the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team downed the University of Maine, 81-75, Saturday at Alfond Arena.

Alvin Abreu

The win snaps the Wildcats’ four-game losing skid and improves their record to 5-12, including 2-3 in America East. The Black Bears fall to 5-12 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

Gilchrese, who matched a career high by recording 13 of his points at the free throw line, also tallied four rebounds and four assists, while Gibbs, UNH’s America East Player of the Game, added five rebounds and five assists.

With Maine on top, 32-30 with 4:05 remaining in the first half, Gibbs drained one of his five 3-pointers to give UNH the lead for good. The ‘Cats went into the break with a 39-34 advantage.

UNH kept its solid play going in the second half, opening the frame up with a 14-6 run to move its lead to 55-40 with just under 14 minutes left.

Maine made a furious push midway through the second half, reeling off a 12-2 run to cut its deficit to five (64-59) with 6:22 left.

The Wildcats pushed their lead to 13 with under three minutes to play. Another Black Bear run cut the UNH lead back to six, but that was as close as they would come.

Freshman guard Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass.) had 15 points and seven rebounds to extend his double-digit scoring streak to seven consecutive games, which is the longest streak for a Wildcat this season. Abreu has recorded double digits in 10 of his last 11 games and 15 out of 17 overall.

Senior forward Mike Christensen (Reston, Va.) tallied 10 points and six rebounds, moving him to within 87 points of the 1,000-point plateau for his career.

Freshman center Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass.) also played a solid game inside, tallying seven points and four rebounds.

Mark Socoby, Maine’s America East Player of the Game, led four Black Bear scorers in double digits with a game-high 25 points.

UNH started out hot, knocking down five straight treys to grab a 15-9 lead just over five minutes into the game. The ‘Cats hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 13, which was just four shy of the single-game school record.

The ‘Cats shot 49 percent (23-47) for the game, including 48  percent (13-27) from long distance. Maine shot 50 percent (27-54) from the floor.

The Wildcats return to action Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. when they play host to Binghamton University at Lundholm Gymnasium.