For the fifth time since 2017, Patrick Gym will be the site of the America East men’s basketball championship game and the host Vermont Catamounts will take on the UMass Lowell River Hawks after both teams won semifinal contests on Tuesday evening. The league's top two teams during the regular season will battle for the league title on Saturday.
No. 1 Vermont shot a blistering 60 percent from the floor to down No. 6 Binghamton, 79-57, in one semifinal while No. 2 UMass Lowell pulled away late from No. 3 New Hampshire to earn a 75-64 victory in the other
Vermont and UMass Lowell will decide the 2023 league title on Saturday at Patrick Gym in Burlington in a battle for a conference championship at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. The league champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
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#1 Vermont 79, #6 Binghamton 57
- Vermont shot 60 percent from the floor and overwhelmed Binghamton in the semifinals.
- The Catamounts have reached the championship game for the sixth time in the last seven years and 16th time overall.
- A 22-4 late first-half run propelled UVM to a 39-18 halftime edge.
- The Catamounts, who dominated the paint scoring by a 48-18 margin, pushed the lead to as many as 27 in the second half.
- Vermont extended its win streak to 14 games.
- Second-team All-Conference performer Dylan Penn scored a game-high 26 points for Vermont while Kam Gibson added 15 and America East Sixth Man of the Year Aaron Deloney had 13 off the bench.
- Jacob Falko, a first-team All-Conference selection, scored a team-high 19 points for Binghamton.
#2 UMass Lowell 75, #3 New Hampshire 64
- In a back-and-forth game that featured 11 ties and 11 lead changes, UMass Lowell closed the game on an 18-7 run over the final 8:30 to edge out New Hampshire in the semifinals.
- With the win, the River Hawks are making their second championship appearance all time, both in the last three years.
- The River Hawks, who closed out a perfect 17-0 record at home, took a nine-point advantage with 3:01 left in the first half on Allin Blunt’s layup.
- But, UNH closed the first half on an 8-0 run over the last two minutes to cut the deficit to 34-33 at the break.
- The game remained tight until UML pulled away late. Everette Hammond’s layup gave the home team a 65-60 lead, which they would not relinquish.
- UMass Lowell has won six in a row and nine of its last 10 overall.
- Blunt paced the River Hawks with 19 points and added four rebounds and four assists.
- Nick Johnson, a third-team All-Conference selection, led all scorers with 22 points for UNH.
Vermont (22-10) and UMass Lowell (26-7) have combined for 48 victories to this point. The two teams split the regular-season matchups and they'll meet in a rubber match for the 2023 title on Saturday.
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