ORONO, Maine (Mar. 7, 2008) – Bret Tyler (Maynard, Mass.) scored two goals as the University of Maine defeated UMass Lowell, 4-1, in Hockey East action at the Alfond Arena Friday night.

The Black Bears improve to 12-18-3 overall and 8-15-3 in league play with the victory. The River Hawks fall to 15-14-4 overall and 10-12-4 against Hockey East with the loss.

For the fifth time in six games the River Hawks scored the game’s first goal. Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) got the goal, his 16th overall on the season and Hockey East-leading 15th in league play, at 6:36 of the first period. Paul Worthington (Langhorne, Pa.) and Jeremy Dehner (Madison, Wis.) had the assists.

The Black Bears scored the next four goals in the hockey game to win for just the third time when allowing the game’s first goal (3-15-2).

Tyler scored the first of his two at 19:08 of the first on the power play. Simon Danis-Pepin (Vaudreuil-Dorioin, Que.) and Rob Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.) picked up the assists.

Jeff Marshall (Kyle, Sask.) gave Maine the lead with his fifth goal of the season at 15:42 of the second. Danis-Pepin picked up his second assist of the night on the Marshall goal.

Tyler netted his second of the night to give the Black Bears a two-goal lead at the 13:01 mark of the third. Keenan Hopson (Prince George, B.C.) and Chris Hahn (Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.) earned the helpers.

Ben Bishop (Des Peres, Mo.) stopped 25 UML shots to earn his 12th win of the season. The junior netminder made 10 saves in the second period.

Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, Ont.) had 20 saves on the night, but took the loss. Hutton has made three straight starts for the River Hawks.

UML out-shot Maine 26 to 24 in the game. The Black Bears had eight shots in each period. Maine was 1-for-3 on the power play, while Lowell was 0-for-4.

The goal for Falite extended his point streak to three games. He has goals in five of the last nine games for the River Hawks.

“I thought we were clearly the better team tonight,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “We were very unfortunate in not getting any bounces. Ben Holmstrom had a couple of great opportunities. We hit three or four posts. We had some back door layups we couldn’t get by [Bishop]. But I’m awfully proud of the way we played. We competed like heck.”

The River Hawks and Black Bears conclude their season series and the 2007-08 regular season Saturday night at the Alfond Arena. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.