BOSTON -- Boston University reached the America East championship game by making a last-second shot. The Terriers are now going to the NCAA Tournament courtesy of a blowout.

Chaz Carr and Paul Seymour each scored 15 points, and Boston University beat Maine 66-40 Saturday to win the America East Tournament and earn its first NCAA Tournament trip since 1997.

The Terriers won the right to play host to the conference's championship game when Stijn Dhondt banked in a 3-pointer as time expired last Sunday to beat Hartford.

On Saturday, Boston U. held Maine scoreless for a seven-minute stretch in the first half, and hit a championship-game record 11 3-pointers -- including eight in the first half -- as the Terriers took a 36-17 halftime lead.

"This is probably the best we've played all year," coach Dennis Wolff said. "As a coach, this is the kind of situation you hope for, that you get into a game as big as this, and you play the way we did."

The Terriers (22-9) held Maine to the lowest point total in America East championship game history. The previous low was 46, also by Maine, in 1991.

It will be BU's fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Maine has never made it.

The Terriers, the tournament's No. 2 seed, is the first team in nine years to win the America East championship without being the top seed.

Maine (12-18) was picked to finish second in the preseason coaches' poll but stumbled to the fifth seed. The Black Bears advanced to the championship by upsetting top-seeded Vermont in overtime in the semifinals.

Billy Collins, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, went 4-of-4 on 3-pointers in the first half, and the Terriers used a 14-0 run to take a 22-8 lead with 7:22 left in the half.

"They obviously controlled the game from beginning to end," Maine coach John Giannini said. "They deserve a lot of credit."

Maine tried defending BU with a zone defense, but four players made 3-pointers during that stretch. The Terriers hit 11 of their first 15 tries from 3-point range, and finished 11-of-18 overall.

"The guys were penetrating and kicking out," Collins said. "They were able to draw the defense in and kick it out, and we were just hitting our shots as a team."

The crowd chanted "We want Duke!" in the closing seconds, then rushed onto the court after the final horn. The Terriers are expected to be a 16 seed or, at best, a 15 when the brackets are announced Sunday night.

Errick Greene led Maine with 11 points, and Clayton Brown had 10. Maine made just 36.4 percent of its shots (13 of 41) against a Terriers' defense ranked eighth in the nation.