Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
VESTAL, N.Y. – The UVM men’s basketball team set the America East record with its 320th regular season conference victory after beating Binghamton 68-54 on Wednesday night. The Cats passed Boston University for sole possession on the league’s all-time conference wins list.
Vermont reaches the win column for the 11th straight time, improves to 18-5 overall, and moves to 8-0 in league play. Binghamton drops to 10-14 on the year and 1-8 in conference play. The Catamounts also extended their regular season America East winning streak to 28 games.
The Cats used a balanced scoring attack as four starters reached double figures for the second straight contest. Trae Bell-Haynes notched his fifth 20-point performance of the season with a game-high 21 points. The senior also collected eight boards and dished out six assists. Drew Urquhart added 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting, grabbed five rebounds, and swatted away three shots. Payton Henson posted an even dozen in the scoring column with six rebounds and three assists. Ernie Duncan contributed 10 points and recorded four steals.
Tyler Stewart led the Bearcats with a team-high 12 points. Stewart was 4-of-8 from the floor and totaled four rebounds. J.C. Show, Willie Rodriguez, and Fard Muhammad followed with nine points apiece.
Binghamton opened the game with a jumper from Stewart, but UVM reeled off 11 of the game’s next 13 points and never trailed for the rest of the night. After the Bearcats closed the gap to 11-9 under the 14-minute mark, the Catamounts outscored their conference counterpart 21-13 for the remainder of the half and went into the break with a 32-23 lead.
Vermont pushed its advantage to double digits in the opening minute of the second half, but Binghamton chipped away and cut the deficit to 36-33 with 15 minutes left to play after Rodriguez sank a three-pointer in front of his own bench. The Green and Gold responded with a 33-16 run over a 12-minute stretch for their largest lead of the evening at 68-49 with three and a half minutes left on the clock.
With the victory, the Cats Win, Community Wins campaign and Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate another $100 to the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, bringing this year’s total to 84 wins and $8,400.
Vermont will continue its three-game road trip with a visit to UMBC on Saturday (Feb. 3). The opening tip is set for 4 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at UMBCRetrievers.com. Fans can watch the America East matchup on ESPN3 and the watchESPN app by logging in with your television provider. All Vermont regular season games can be heard on 101.3 ESPN FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call.