ORONO — The University of Maine overcame a 21-point, first-half deficit and a 17-point second-half disadvantage on Saturday to stun Bryant University 35-31 at Alfond Stadium.
UMaine (1-3) snapped a seven-game losing streak and gave coach Joe Harasymiak his first win as the Black Bears’ head football coach.
Freshman running back Josh Mack scored two of his three touchdowns in the second half as Maine scored 21 unanswered points to erase a 31-14 deficit. He scored on runs of 25 and 9 yards with the 9-yarder putting UMaine ahead with 10:36 left.
His runs followed a 38-yard TD pass from Dan Collins to Jaleel Reed.
Mack ran for 151 yards on 21 carries and Collins overcame a poor first half to finish with 18 completions in 30 attempts for 180 yards and two TDs. He was intercepted three times.
Ricky Perez’s 35-yard field goal to open the second half gave Bryant (2-3) a 24-7 lead.
Mack capped a seven-play 62-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run to cut the lead to 24-14 but Dalton Easton’s fourth touchdown pass of the game — his third to Matt Sewall — an 18-yarder, made it 31-14.
Easton tied the Bryant school record with his 56th career TD pass. He completed 27 of 53 passes for 318 yards and the four TDs. He was intercepted by DeAndre Scott to end the game.
Bryant built a 21-0 lead in the first half as Easton threw three touchdown passes.
Collins had a miserable first half until he gave the Black Bears a lifeline by tossing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Micah Wright on the last play of the half.
A 31-pass from Collins to Wright on the previous play set up the score.
Easton had thrown an 18-yard TD pass to Matt Sewall with just 42 seconds left in the half but Maine was able to march down the field with a six-play drive that was jumpstarted by Mack’s 20-yard run.
Collins went just 7-for-21 for 81 yards and three interceptions in the first half. At that point, he had completed just 12 of his last 32 passes with five interceptions dating back to the 31-20 loss to James Madison a week earlier.
Easton completed 13 of 19 passes in the first half for 170 yards and wasn’t intercepted.
He tossed a 28-yard TD pass to Keenan Thompson on a third-and-25 play to open the scoring in the first quarter.
That capped an eight-play, 45-yard drive.
The Bulldogs expanded the lead on their next possession as a 14-yard pass from Easton to Ryan Black on a fourth-and-8 at the UM-40 set the stage for a 25-yard TD toss from Easton to Sewall with 15 seconds left in the first period.
A Danny Hughes interception and his dazzling return down to the M-32 was turned into points when Easton hit Sewall for an 18-yarder in the last minute of the half.
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