AUBURN - Central Maine Community College's exhausting three-day, whirlwind tour ended on a high note at Kirk Hall on Saturday afternoon.

 The Mustangs collected their third straight victory, beating Albany College of Pharmacy 72-61 thanks to a constant rotation of CMCC's strong bench. 

 The Mustangs beat Great Bay Community College 89-80 on Thursday and traveled out of town to the Green Mountain State to square off against Vermont State College-Randolph. CMCC prevailed with a 92-90 overtime victory on Friday night before catching the red-eye back to Auburn for Saturday's game.

 "Three games, three days, but to compete in the national tournament, you have to play three games in three days," CMCC coach Dave Gonyea said. "So I thought the kids responded today. We got in at one in the morning after an overtime win in Vermont. The kids worked really hard. They were focused and we played a lot of guys today knowing that everybody is not where they probably could be."

 The first five minutes of the opening half saw both teams struggle to jump-start their offense.

 But guard Wyatt Hathaway's first of four 3-pointers acted like a sudden boost to CMCC's offense. He scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the first half. Hathaway also scored well inside the three-point arc, which included a crowd-pleasing shot as he was passing underneath Albany's basket.

 "Wyatt played pretty well," Gonyea said. "Wyatt is what's called a gamer. You want a big shot (and) he's open, Wyatt will take it." 

 Malik Foster's back-to-back 3's also allowed the Mustangs to close out the first half with a 40-24 lead.

 New Zealand import Boston Caldwell, who is averaging 17.4 points per game, threw in 13 points, dropped in three 3-pointers and went an eye-opening 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

 "So on Thursday, when I played Great Bay, I had zero points in the first half," Caldwell said. "I came out, a whole new half - 24 points. (I) just got the trust from my teammates. I am really proud of the boys and happy for us as a team. We are 3-0 over the last few days."

 But Caldwell was equally excited for the CMCC's third win on Saturday.

"I kind of feel like we were all just there for each other," he said. "We came off two big wins so we got the energy going. It was kind of a difficult one to play at mid day, but we able to get going…"

Jackson Birmingham contributed 11 points, but also aided CMCC's cause with 10 assists, two blocked shots and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

 "I am really pleased with our bigs working hard and getting better," Gonyea said. "That is helping a lot. Boston has found his rhythm. We are shooting the ball better as a team, and more than anything else, we are sharing the ball better as a team, and I think that showed the last three days." 

 The Mustangs continued to cruise in the second half, keeping their distance from Albany while maintaining double-digit leads.

 Brett Richards had the hot hand for Albany, scoring 30 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.