Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
BANGOR, Maine – The UVM men’s basketball team polished off the regular season with a 74-62 win over Maine on Tuesday night. The Catamounts improve to 25-6 overall and finish the America East schedule with a 15-1 record. The Black Bears drop to 6-25 on the year and wrap up the league slate with a 3-13 mark.
The win also gave UVM’s senior class (Trae Bell-Haynes, Payton Henson, Nate Rohrer, Drew Urquhart, David Urso, and Cam Ward) their 97th career victory – the most by a graduating class in school history.
The Cats used a balanced scoring attack as four starters racked up double figures. Bell-Haynes notched a team-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and collected seven rebounds. Ernie Duncan and Urquhart tallied 14 points apiece. The pair combined for boards and seven assists. Henson added an even dozen in the scoring column and finished a rebound shy of a double-double.
Maine also had four players score double figures. The Black Bears were powered by a game-high 19 points from Aaron Calixte. The junior shot 8-of-15 from the floor and dished out six assists. Andrew Fleming followed with 18 points and seven boards. Isaiah White and Ilija Stojiljkovic posted 10 points each.
The conference foes went back-and-forth in the opening minutes but the Catamounts started to gain some separation near the midway point. UVM held a 19-16 advantage at the 11:41 mark, but mounted a 12-5 run over the next six minutes. The Black Bears scored seven of the final nine points of the half but the Green and Gold went into halftime leading 33-28.
The Back Bears managed to tie the game at 39-39 after producing an 11-6 run to begin the second half. The Catamounts responded with a 21-8 run and owned the largest lead of the night at 60-47 with eight minutes left to play. Vermont reached the win column after preventing Maine from drawing any closer than eight points for rest of the contest.
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 105 wins and $10,500.
The teams will trade locations as top-seeded Vermont will host eighth-seeded Maine in the America East Quarterfinal on Saturday (March 3). The opening tip is set for 7 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still available as fans can purchase tickets at UVMathletics.com/Tickets. Reserved seats are available for $15 while general admission seats will cost $12 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under.
The contest will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the watchESPN app by logging in with your television provider. All Vermont men’s basketball games can be heard on 101.3 ESPN FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call.