FINAL SCORE: Vermont 81, UMBC 72
BURLINGTON, Vt. – In a matchup of the top two teams in the America East standings, the Catamounts won the battle for first place with an 82-72 conference win over UMBC on Friday night. The victory extended UVM's season-long winning streak to six games and handed UMBC its 20th-consecutive defeat in the head-to-head series.
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Vermont stays unbeaten in league play at 4-0 and improves to 14-5 overall. The team's 14-5 record is tied for the third-best record in program history through 19 games. UMBC drops to 12-5 overall and suffers its first conference loss at 3-1.
The Catamounts shared the wealth as six players scored at least eight points.
Trae Bell-Haynes poured in a team-high 20 points with a pair of three-pointers and went a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Drew Urquhart followed in double figures with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Kurt Steidl finished the night only one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards. Steidl also made history by becoming the sixth player in program history to make 200-career three-pointers.
Payton Henson added nine points while
Josh Hearlihy and
Darren Payen capped off a balanced scoring attack with eight points apiece.
The Retrievers had five players reach double figures, including pair of 20-point outings from Jairus Lyles and Will Darley. Lyles, the 27th-best scorer in the nation, charted a game-high 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Darley shot 8-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for 22 points. Joe Sherburne, the second-best three-point percentage shooter in the country, posted 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting but was held to only a pair of long distance field goals. Jourdan Grant rounded out UMBC's scoring with 10 points as only six Retrievers recorded a point in the loss.
UMBC took a 4-2 lead in the early going but UVM countered with a 9-0 run to gain momentum, including a pair of hook shots from Urquhart on back-to-back possessions.
Over the next six minutes, the Retrievers put together a 16-11 run and cut the Catamounts' lead down to 22-20. Urquhart took over once again for the green and gold with six points in a 9-0 run. Steidl capped off the run with a three-pointer from the corner.
At the break, Vermont held a 44-36 advantage after shooting 61.3% (19-for-31) from the floor over the first 20 minutes.
In the first five minutes of the second half, the Cats padded their lead to 57-46 but the Retrievers trimmed it back to single digits once again. UMBC scored five quick points with a layup from Lyles and a triple from Sherburne.
UVM countered with an 8-0 run after
Darren Payen added a pair of put-backs, including an and-one opportunity, and
Cam Ward knocked down a trey from the top of the arc.
UMBC climbed back into the game with a 15-3 run in an eight-minute span in the middle of the second half and held UVM without a field goal during the stretch. The Retrievers managed to battle back and trailed 68-66 with three and a half minutes left in the game.
Bell-Haynes took control down the stretch, however, and the Retrievers couldn't inch any closer. The junior guard made six free throws in the final 3:16 and ended the field goal drought with a teardrop in the lane to give the Cats a 74-70 lead with a minute remaining. Bell-Haynes' runner sparked a 9-2 run for the green and gold in the final minute to seal the victory.
Vermont hits the road on Monday (Jan. 16) to face twin state rival New Hampshire for a 1 p.m. matinee. 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 will be streamed on
ESPN3 and the watchESPN app by logging in with your cable provider.
Canon Solutions America is the presenting sponsor of the 2016-17 men's basketball season