Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
BURLINGTON – Top-seeded Vermont advanced to semifinal round of the America East Tournament for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons with an 86-41 win over eighth-seeded Maine in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday night.
Vermont extends the nation’s longest active winning streak to 19 games and improves to 27-5 overall on the year. Maine closes the book on the 2016-17 season with a 7-25 overall mark.
The Catamounts dominated the game from the opening tip. UVM’s energized defense held Maine to 32.0% (16-for-50) from the floor and 20.0% (3-for-15) from long distance. The green and gold won the battle on the glass (38-28), points in the paint (60-16), bench points (39-3), and turnovers (16-7).
Anthony Lamb set a UVM postseason record by making 10 consecutive field goals in the victory and his 10-for-10 night is the second-most consecutive field goals all-time in a single game. The freshman welcomed postseason play in style with a game-high 23 points, five rebounds, and a pair of blocks. Dre Wills followed with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with four rebounds and four assists. Darren Payen was the second Catamount to have a perfect shooting performance with 12 points after sinking all five attempts from the floor. Trae Bell-Haynes rounded out four Vermont players in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and the junior recorded three steals.
Andrew Fleming led the Black Bears with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Austin Howard contributed nine points and Vincent Eze added seven points for Maine.
Vermont’s offense was in rhythm from the get-go as the Cats started the game on a 21-6 run. With six minutes remaining in the period, UVM held a 28-12 and proceeded to close out the half on a 17-4 run for a 45-16 advantage at the break.
The second half was more of the same for the Catamounts. The green and gold shot 54.5% (18-of-33) in the final period and tacked on 41 more points.
Vermont will host No. 4 seed New Hampshire on Monday (March 6) in the semifinal round of the America East Tournament at 7 p.m. All UVM men’s basketball games can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call. The game can be seen on ESPN3and the watchESPN app by logging in with your cable provider.
AMERICA EAST SEMIFINAL TICKET INFORMATION
Season ticket holders can purchase their reserved tickets on Wednesday (March 1) at 10 p.m. and the group has until 9 a.m. on Friday (March 3) to buy their seats online via the MyTicket portal, in person at the UVM Athletics Ticket Office, or by phone at 802-656-4410. Phone calls will be returned dependent on the volume of phone calls received.
Victory Club members at the Captain ($1,500) level and above will have until 12 p.m. on Thursday (March 2) to request tickets viaVictory.Club@uvm.edu or 802-656-0956. If you have season tickets, please purchase your season tickets as indicated above and make requests for any additional tickets through the Victory Club office.
A public on-sale will begin at 12 p.m. on Friday (March 3) online at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or in person at the UVM Athletics Ticket Office. Phone orders will not be taken at this time.
Student tickets will be available at 9 a.m. on Monday (March 6) in person at the UVM Athletics Ticket Office or through the myUVM portal.