ORONO- Vermont got a game-high 24 points from TJ Hurley on Saturday afternoon in building a 16 point lead in the second half, and would hold off a furious Maine comeback to pick up a 65-61 America East men’s basketball win inside Memorial Gymnasium on Skip Chappelle Court.
Maine held their only leads of the game early on by two points each time, but a 7-0 Vermont run pushed them ahead for good at 11-4 capped off by a pair of Hurley free throws. A three-pointer by Hurley stretched the Catamounts lead to 28-13 with 6:29 left in the first half. The Black Bears responded with a 9-0 spurt to end the opening 20 minutes on a jumper by Kellen Tynes, two free throws by AJ Lopez, a layup from Jaden Clayton, and a three-pointer by Quion Burns to slice it to 28-22 at the break.
Vermont came storming out of the locker room in the second half using a 12-2 run to push their lead to their biggest of the afternoon at 40-24 with 14:54 left. Maine kept fighting back, and a three-pointer by Lopez would cut it to five at 47-42 (18-7 run) with 7:43 remaining. With the score 63-57 and just 29 seconds to go, Burns would get fouled on a three-pointer and had a chance to cut it to a one possession game. He would make the first, but would miss the final two and the Catamounts hit two free throws in the final seconds to hold on.
Tynes led Maine in the loss with 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one blocked shot. Burns finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and two blocked shots. The Black Bears went 3-7 in the second half from the foul line. Hurley finished 7-13 from the floor and 4-7 from three-point range that led to his game high point total in the Vermont win. Illeri Ayo-Faleye added 12 points. The Catamounts improve to 15-11 and 8-3 in America East in recording their 30th consecutive victory over Maine. The Black Bears fall to 16-10 and 8-3 in conference play and will begin a three game road trip as they travel to Albany to battle the Great Danes on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.
