For the first time in 21 years, the University of Maine men’s basketball team will be playing in the America East Championship game. The third seeded Black Bears after a 72-64 home quarterfinal win over UMass-Lowell last Saturday, went on the road to upset #2 Vermont 57-42 on Tuesday night in Burlington in the semifinals to break a 30-game losing streak to the Catamounts that dated back to 2013. They’ll have to do it on the road again this Saturday against top seeded Bryant in Rhode Island if they want to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
Maine (20-13), who hosted their first playoff game in 30 years and was victorious in a home postseason matchup for the first time in 31 years in the quarterfinals, would defeat Vermont in the semis with a great defensive effort holding the Catamounts to 25.9% shooting for their first win over UVM since January 22, 2013 when they played their home games at Alfond Arena. Graduate guard and three time America East Defensive Player of the Year Kellen Tynes has also stepped up his offensive game in averaging 15.5 points in the playoffs, to go along with 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 3.0 steals. Senior guard AJ Lopez is averaging 15 points in the two games, while junior guard Jaden Clayton has also come up with some timely play (12.5 points per game in the postseason). The Black Bears will need to get a little more from one of their other leaders in starting senior guard Quion Burns (9.5 ppg), and some balanced efforts all around if it expects to stay with the high scoring Bryant team.
Bryant (22-11) is the highest scoring team in the conference, and is averaging 82.5 points per outing over the course of the season. The Bulldogs defeated UMBC 85-74 in the quarterfinals, before taking down Albany 91-78 in the semis. They went 14-2 in the conference during the regular season, and out of the 18 games (including playoffs) they’ve played vs America East opponents they’ve won 11 of them by double digits. Senior guard Rafael Pinzon is the leading scorer for Bryant, averaging 18.7 points per game and shoots 39% from the three-point arc. The Bulldogs played without Pinzon (illness) in their semifinal victory over Albany. Graduate guard and America East Conference Player of the Year Earl Timberlake (15.5 ppg, 8.5 rebounds per game), junior forward Barry Evans (13.3 ppg, 7.0 rebounds), and graduate forward Connor Withers (11.5 ppg, 5.6 rebounds) are some of other leaders that have helped their team to their second conference championship game appearance since joining Division I. Bryant was a long time member of Division II, and won their first DI conference title when they were part of the Northeast Conference in the 2021-22 season (lost 93-82 to Wright State in NCAA Tournament First Four). This is their first title game in America East.
The two teams met twice in the regular season. Bryant stomped Maine 81-55 at home in the conference opener on January 4th, before an 80-72 victory over the Black Bears in Orono on March 1st. The game at the Pit was within one possession with three minutes left, before the Bulldogs hit 6-6 at the line down the stretch to pull out the victory. This will be the first title game for Maine since March 13, 2004 (72-53 loss to Vermont), and their fifth in program history overall (1991, 1994, 2002, 2004, and now 2025). Head coach Chris Markwood was a junior guard on the last Black Bears team that made it to the championship game. It will be an 11 a.m. tip-off on Saturday at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island and will be televised on ESPN 2.
