Sophomore David Hehn hit a 10-foot jumper with 5.6 seconds left to give Vermont a 56-55 win over Boston University in the Choice Hotels International America East Men's Basketball Championship at Case Gym. With the win, the Catamounts earn their first NCAA Championship bid in the 89-year history of the program.
Junior Matt Sheftic scored 23 points to lead the Catamounts (21-11), who became the first No. 2 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the title game. It also maked the end of a nine-year win streak for home teams in the championship game. The host school had been 17-1 in the previous 18 championships decided on a home court.
Chaz Carr came up short on a 3-pointer as time expired for the Terriers, last year's America East Champions.
Sheftic was named the Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player for the championship. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammate Taylor Coppenrath, Rashad Bell and Jason Grochowalski of Boston University and Jose Juan Barea of Northeastern, a 76-61 loser to Boston University in the semifinals on Monday.
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, the Terriers tied the game at 52 on Bell's putback with 4:47 left. Ryan Butt put Boston University ahead 55-54 by hitting a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 3:15 left.
The Terriers (20-10) maintained that lead and had the ball with 40 seconds left, but a traveling call gave the ball back to the Catamounts.
After Vermont called timeout, Hehn drove on the right side with the shot clock winding down and hit a tough shot over the smaller Carr.
Paul Seymour scored 16 points to lead the Terriers. Grochowalski added 11.
Germain Njila scored 12 points for the Catamounts.
After Boston University scored the game's opening basket, Vermont broke off a 16-0 run to grab a 14-point lead with 12:21 left in the first half. The Terriers shot just 26.9 percent and were outrebounded 22-12 in the first half, but managed to cut the Catamounts' lead to 30-22 by halftime.
Seymour single-handedly brought Boston University back to 34-33 with 15:48 left, scoring all of his team's points in an 11-4 run.
Vermont pushed the lead back to 43-36, but BU took its first lead since the first basket with an 11-2 spurt -- capped by Butt's putback that gave the Terriers a 47-45 advantage with 8:15 to go.