ALBANY, N.Y. -- For the third time since 2006, Vermont and Albany will decide the America East men's basketball title as the two teams each won their semifinal contests on Sunday at the 2013 America East Men's Basketball Championship presented by SEFCU at Albany's SEFCU Arena.
Second-seeded Vermont, which is making its ninth title game appearance and third in the last four years, outscored sixth-seeded UMBC, 48-32, in the second half en route to an 85-72 win in the first semifinal. In the nightcap, Mike Black hit a driving layup with 2.4 seconds left to break a 59-all tie and lift fourth-seeded Albany to a 61-59 upset win over top-seeded Stony Brook.
In what will be the third meeting between the No. 2 and 4 seeds for the league title, Vermont and Albany will play for the America East crown on Saturday, March 16 at Vermont's Patrick Gym at 11:30 a.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2
Visit Championship Central for box scores, postgame quotes, photo galleries and highlights for all games as well as live coverage links for Saturday’s championship game.
Semifinal Recaps
#2 Vermont 85, #6 UMBC 72
For the eight time since 2002, Vermont will play for the America East men's basketball crown as the second-seeded Catamounts overcame an eight-point deficit to beat sixth-seeded UMBC, 85-72 behind a 52.8 percent shooting performance in the first America East semifinals Sunday.
Candon Rusin scored 18 points to lead four Catamounts in double figures as Ethan O'Day and Sandro Carissimo each had 16 and Clancy Rugg had eight. Ryan Cook led all scorers with 20 points for UMBC, while Joey Getz and Chase Plummer each had 13.
Both teams shot lights out in the first half as Vermont (21-10) hit 56 percent of its tries while UMBC (8-23) canned 55.2 percent of its attempts, including 8-of-14 from three-point range. UMBC led by as many as eight in the first half, but a 9-0 Vermont run erased the lead, before the Retrievers regained it and took a 40-37 advantage into the locker room.
UMBC grew its lead back to eight four minutes into the half on Brian Neller's three-pointer, one of 12 UMBC had in the game, which gave his team a 50-42 lead.
The Catamounts made their charge however with an inside-outside attack, outscoring UMBC 40-12 in the paint for the game and hitting seven threes.
UVM closed the game on a 23-10 run over the game's final 7:48 to seal their trip to the final for the ninth time in program history.
Vermont will Albany will play for the America East crown on Saturday, March 16 at Vermont's Patrick Gym at 11:30 a.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
#4 Albany 61, #1 Stony Brook 59
Mike Black's driving layup with 2.4 seconds left broke a 59-all tie and sent fourth-seeded Albany to the league title game for the third time as the Great Danes beat top-seeded Stony Brook 61-59 in the second men's semifinal Sunday.
Black and Jacob Iati combined for 30 of Albany's 61 points as Black, a first-team all-leaguer, scored 16 and Iati added 14. Carson Puriefoy paced Stony Brook with a career-high 16 points, while Dave Coley, a third-team all-conference choice, each had 15.
Stony Brook (23-7), the league's regular-season champion, jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Albany (23-10) took charge. The Great Danes, who tied their Division I-program record with its 23rd win, went on a 23-7 run to take a 23-14 lead.
Peter Hooley, an America East All-Rookie choice, hit a three-pointer with 1:47 left to give his team its largest lead of the half, 26-18, with 1:47 left in the period. The Great Danes took a 28-22 lead into the locker room.
The Seawolves, who will receive an automatic bid to the NIT for the third time in four years, closed to within two (33-31) on Coley's three with 14:37 left in the game.
Albany would grow its lead again however and took its largest advantage, a 10-point cushion, (49-39) with 5:46 left. The Danes still led by 10 with 3:57 left but SBU used a 17-7 run to get back in it, eventually tying the contest at 59 with 12 seconds left on a pair of Coley free throws.
That set up Black's heroics as the senior took the ball down the right side, juked to the left and exploded back to the right, opening a path to the hoop, where he finished to seal the game and set up a date with Vermont for the championship.