Eighteen games deep in its 2014-15 season, and the Binghamton men’s basketball team has just earned its first win against a Division I opponent. The Bearcats (2-16, 1-2 America East) outscored Maine, 36-16, in the second half of their Saturday afternoon matchup at the Events Center to come away with a 65-46 win after eight long weeks punctuated by hard losses.

The game featured a whole-team effort rather than seeing just one player score major points, as has happened so frequently this season. Three Bearcats scored just under 20 points each, with freshman forward Willie Rodriguez leading the bunch with 19 on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Freshman guard Romello Walker added 18 points and eight rebounds and freshman forward Justin McFadden contributed 16 points, including shooting 2 for 3 from behind the arc.

Though they dominated in the second half, the ultimate win required a rallying effort from the Bearcats. Binghamton opened the game shooting just 4 for 18 from the floor in the first 12:51 of the half. Falling into a 26-13 hole to Maine (1-14, 0-3 AE), it looked like BU might pick up its 15th straight loss.

But behind a heightened defensive pressure that forced three Maine turnovers in the last 2:18 of the half, Binghamton embarked on a 16-4 run that dismantled the Black Bears’ double-digit lead to 30-29 by halftime.

Binghamton was especially effective in the last six minutes of the first frame. A Rodriguez jumper followed by a McFadden 3-pointer closed Maine’s lead to just six, 26-20, with 4:55 remaining. Sophomore guard Marlon Beck II nailed an additional trey for his first points of the game, and Rodriguez stole possession and capped it off with a dunk. Rodriguez blocked junior forward Till Gloger’s jumper on Maine’s next ball, and Walker followed through with a dunk of his own to stretch out the energetic run and cut down Maine’s lead to just one, 28-27.

A series of fouls and trips to the line closed out the half with the same margin, 30-29.

The Bearcats opened the second half with a trey from Walker to take their first lead of the game, 32-30, just 24 seconds in. Maine senior forward Zarko Valjarevic hit a 3-pointer of his own to put the Black Bears back on top, but Walker converted a layup on the subsequent possession to retake the lead, 34-33. The Bearcats wouldn’t look back from there.

Three points from Rodriguez off a free throw and a spinning jumper widened BU’s lead to eight, 48-40, with 10:07 remaining. Walker extended the advantage to double digits with a steal and a one-handed dunk, and Rodriguez picked off another possession and capped it off with a jumper directly afterwards.

Maine wouldn’t pose a threat after that, shooting 1 for 9 from the floor and committing seven turnovers in the last 9:33 of play. The Black Bears suffered from 17 turnovers leading to 19 points for the Bearcats, who accumulated 13 steals in the game. Rodriguez picked up a season-high four steals, while freshman center Bobby Ahearn and sophomore guard Yosef Yacob added three each.

Overall, Binghamton also heavily out-rebounded its visitors. Binghamton pulled down a season-high 41 boards — 16 of them offensive — to Maine’s 27. Ahearn led BU with 12, six defensive and six offensive.

One thing Binghamton didn’t take much advantage of was its trips to the charity stripe. The Bearcats shot just 56.5 percent from the line on 13-of-23 shooting. Maine didn’t fare any better, however, registering a 41.7 percent clip on 5-of-12 shooting.

The long-awaited victory finally saw things come together for the Bearcats, who managed to flaunt both their defensive and offensive efficacy in the same game. With 13 games remaining on their conference slate, the Bearcats do still have an opportunity to pull things together in time for the postseason.

Today’s win comes on the heels of a disappointing road loss to Hartford on Wednesday night. Despite pushing the Hawks (8-7, 1-1 AE) until the closing buzzer and shooting 63.6 percent in the second half, BU ultimately fell, 69-59, at Chase Family Arena.

Walker led the Bearcats, rallying for 15 points in the second half en route to his season-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Beck was also potent for Binghamton, contributing a season-high 16 points.

BU had led, 39-38, with 12:24 remaining after converting 7 of 10 to start the half, but Hartford hit two 3-pointers in response and stayed afloat from there. Senior forward Mark Nwakamma led the Hawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

The Bearcats played both games without two of their leading scorers in freshman center Dusan Perovic (11.5 points per game) and sophomore forward Nick Madray (7.8 points per game). Both are out with injuries.

Binghamton will have to play out the rest of the season without Perovic, who suffered a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament in practice last week. He also sat out last week’s bout with UMass Lowell with a concussion. Madray, on the other hand, will likely be unavailable to play for another three or four weeks with his ankle sprain.

Next up for the Bearcats is a road contest against Albany. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at SEFCU Arena.