FINAL SCORE: Vermont 74, UMass Lowell 62
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Aaron Deloney scored a career-high 33 points as Vermont (24-6, 14-1 AE) trounced UMass Lowell (20-8, 11-4 AE) 74-62 to lock up America East Regular Season Title outright on Saturday afternoon at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts have won a nation's best eight-straight regular season titles.
 
UVM honored Deloney pregame, along with Matt Veretto and Brenton Mills on Senior Day presented by UVM Health Advantage.
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"Yeah, great game tonight," Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker said. "AD had one of the historic performances, I think in this building, you know with it being Senior Day. He's the one guy that was here five years ago out of the three guys that we honored tonight. The stakes were really high and he delivered with a historic performance, and played the whole game basically. And it was awesome. It was awesome."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Shamir Bogues got the scoring started for Vermont, converting on his early layup attempt. Deloney gave Vermont an 8-4 lead with 15:24 left of the first half after swishing his first two three-point attempts.
• Back-to-back blocks by Ileri Ayo-Faleye and Jace Roquemore powered Vermont on an 8-2 scoring run led by TJ Long making his first three-pointer and Nick Fiorillo making his layup while getting fouled. Fiorillo made his free-throw giving Vermont the 16-6 advantage with 13:21 to go in half one.
• Over the next six minutes, five different Catamounts contributed to a 15-7 run, led by Deloney with five points in that span. Long and Bogues scored three each as UVM led 31-13 with 7:03 remaining in the first half.
• Sam Alamutu got the fans on their feet with 1:41 remaining in the half after finding a wide-open lane to the rim where he slammed in a two-handed dunk to give Vermont a 34-18 advantage.
• Alamutu concluded first-half scoring for Vermont after corralling the offensive rebound off Long's three-point attempt, and banking in his layup attempt to give Vermont a 38-18 lead.
• Ayo-Faleye held it down defensively for the Catamounts, registering his third block of the half for Vermont after denying UMass Lowell the opportunity at the last basket with two seconds remaining. Vermont entered halftime with a 20-point lead, 38-18.
• Fiorillo got scoring started in the second frame, scoring a layup on Vermont's first offensive possession. Vermont led, 40-18.
• Deloney found Ayo-Faleye cutting through the paint, where he slammed down a powerful two-handed dunk, surrounded by UMass Lowell defenders, giving Vermont a 42-20 lead.
• Following Ayo-Faleye's dunk, each team traded buckets back and forth before a technical foul was called on UMass Lowell's Yuri Covington for an excessive celebration after his made three-point shot, forcing the Riverhawks to take a timeout with 13:53 left of gametime. Vermont was ahead, 53-35.
• Deloney scored the next nine consecutive points for the Catamounts coming out of that timeout, including two three-pointers to land Vermont a 62-38 advantage with 11:34 remaining.
• UMass Lowell didn't go away without a fight, orchestrating a 10-2 scoring run with 5:57 left in the game to cut the Vermont lead down, 64-48.
• Deloney reached 30 total points in the game after drilling his seventh three-pointer of the match, extending the Catamount lead, 67-48.
• The Riverhawks dialed up a 7-0 scoring run in response to the Deloney three, bringing them back within 12 points, 67-55, with 3:54 left on the clock.
• Deloney drilled the three-point dagger with 1:41 left of gametime to put Vermont ahead 72-58, earning a new career high, 33 points, and practically sealing the deal against UMass Lowell.
• Free throws were the only points scored the rest of the way, as Vermont defeated UMass Lowell by a final score of 74-62.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Deloney had himself a career night, earning new career highs in points (33), field goals made (12), three-pointers made (8), and a new season high in minutes played (37). Deloney also had a game-high three steals to go along with two rebounds and two assists.
• Long scored the second-most points for Vermont, earning 12 total points while recording a new career high in minutes played with 37 total minutes. Long also registered six rebounds for the Catamounts.
• Ayo-Faleye earned a game-high four blocks defensively for Vermont. He tallied seven points, three rebounds, and two assists to go along with his game-high blocks.
• Bogues and Alamutu led the Catamounts in assists, earning four each.
• Alamutu had a career night as well, recording career-highs in minutes (28), rebounds (11), and steals (2). He finished with eight points.
• UVM's bench outscored UMass Lowell's 22-19. UVM also had more points in the paint, 32-28.
• The Catamounts had the better shooting on the night, shooting 46.4% (26-of-56) from the field, while the River Hawks made 37.7% (20-of-53) of their attempts. Vermont also shot better from distance making 40.0% (10-of-25) while UMass Lowell shot 27.8% (5-of-18) from three. UVM went 80% from the free-throw line, shooting 12-of-15.
• With the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Children's Trust Foundation as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $94,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.

UP NEXT
Vermont closes out the regular season on Tuesday (Mar. 5) when it visits the New Hampshire at Lundholm Gym. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN+. Fans can listen for free on the Vermont Sports Network, from Learfield, on The Game, which will air on 97.1 FM in Burlington, 105.9 FM in Plattsburgh, and 960 AM around the rest of the region. The radio broadcast is also available online via the Varsity Network App with Brian McLaughlin on the call.
 
McGee Automotive Family is the presenting sponsor of Vermont men's basketball