Lamb's Dominance Leads Vermont to 7th #AEHoops Title
BURLINGTON, Vt. – For the second time in three years and the seventh time in program history, Vermont is the America East men’s basketball champion. Anthony Lamb scored a game-high 28 points to lift the top-seeded Catamounts to a 66-49 win over third-seeded UMBC in the league title game Saturday at Vermont’s Patrick Gym.
Vermont (27-6) used an 11-0 second-half run and held UMBC (21-13) to just 49 points, its second-lowest output of the season. The win gives the Catamounts its seventh title in the last 17 seasons.
Lamb, who added nine rebounds to his 28 points, was named the tournament’s Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player. He averaged 26.7 points 6.0 rebounds over the three tournament games. He was joined on the All-Championship team by teammate Stef Smith, UMBC’s K.J. Jackson and Joe Sherburne and Hartford’s J.R. Lynch. Sherburne, a graduate student with a perfect 4.00 GPA, was the men’s basketball Elite 18 honoree.
The Catamounts earned a #13 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face #4 seed Florida State on Thursday in Hartford, Conn. The game will tip at 2 p.m. and air on TBS.
The Nitty Gritty
- Lamb scored 12 of Vermont’s first 16 points as they jumped out to a 16-7 advantage midway through the first half.
- While Vermont went nearly six minutes without a field goal, UMBC trimmed the deficit to four at 18-14 on Brandon Horvath’s layup with 7:02 left in the first half.
- Vermont scored eight of the next 11 points and took a 28-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
- After UMBC scored the first three points of the second half and held Vermont off the scoreboard for the first 2:36 of the stanza, Lamb hit one of his three three-pointers to kick start an 11-0 Catamount run, which was key to the victory.
- The Catamounts grew their lead to as many as 19 and never trailed by fewer than 11.
The Numbers
- Vermont held UMBC to just 49 points, its second-lowest output of the season, and just 34 percent shooting.
- The Catamounts were plus-11 on the glass and had 11 second-chance points.
- Lamb had 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting and added nine rebounds.
- Smith scored 15 points and added eight boards.
- Lamb and Smith combined for 45 of Vermont’s 66 points.
- Jackson led UMBC with 15 points.
- Arkel Lamar had eight points and 11 rebounds.
The History
- With the win, Vermont has matched Northeastern for the most championships in conference history with seven.
- The seven titles have all come since 2003.
- The Catamounts are the 23rd top seed to win the #AEHoops title and it's their third crown as the top seed (2005, ’17).
- Vermont improved to 7-6 in title games while UMBC fell to 2-2.
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