(UMaine (9-18, 4-10) at Boston U. (15-12, 9-5)

Thursday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m.

Boston University is going for the 1,000th victory in program history (53-38 against UMaine) while the Black Bears must win twice and hope for New Hampshire to lose twice in order to get out of the play-in game. Boston U. is set as the No. 3 seed for the upcoming America East tournament.

The Terriers, after moving to 9-2 in America East, fell out of contention with three straight losses. BU went out of the conference to break the losing skid, 63-57, over Iona in a Bracketbuster game last weekend.

UMaine is sliding, having gone 1-7 since a 3-3 start to league play. A play-in game appointment would be the second straight for the Black Bears. The last time that happened was 1997, '98.

Probable starters
Boston U.
G - Corey Lowe, 6-2, Jr. ... 16.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4 assists
G - John Holland, 6-5, So. ... Player of Year candidate, 18.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg
F - Matt Wolff, 6-6, Sr. ... Does the dirty work
F - Scott Brittain, 6-9, Jr. ... Overshadowed but effective
F - Jake O'Brien, 6-8, Fr. ... Probable Rookie of the Year
UMaine
G - Mark Socoby, 6-5, Jr. ... Needs 9 to reach 1,000 mark
G - Junior Bernal, 6-5, Jr. ... Bears need all-around play
G - Gerald McLemore, 6-3, Fr. ... Double figures 6 straight games
F - Malachi Peay, 6-5, So. ... Aggressive tone a must
F - Sean McNally, 6-7, So. ... Confidence should be growing
Notes
A young team with two juniors out for the season, Terriers don't substitute much as starting five logs heavy minutes. Probably not an issue against Maine's zone, however. ... UMaine heavy underdogs in final two games, needs to show some fight leading into play-in game versus Hartford.