University of Maine
Vermont
Kevin Little Scores 17 But Maine Men's Hoops Falls at Vermont, 68-49
2/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Kevin Little had a strong return to the lineup on Tuesday night as he scored 17 points but it wasn't enough as Vermont swept the season series with a 68-49 victory over Maine, at Patrick Gym, Tuesday night. With the loss the Black Bears fall to 2-21 and 1-0 in conference while the Catamounts improved to 13-10 and 8-2 in America East play.
Little returned to the lineup after a missing a game due to personal reasons last weekend and did so in style scoring 17 points, including 11 in the second half. He and Shaun Lawton, who notched 12, were the only Black Bears to hit double digits.
For Vermont it was a team effort as the squad had three hit double-figures as both Dre Wills and Cam Ward recorded 14 points while Kurt Steidl had 13.
A brief second-half surge, which closed the game to 10, was fueled by Vermont turnovers as the squad committed 17, while Maine only recorded 11. Rebounding remained an issue however as the Black Bears took down just 26 while the Catamounts recorded 37.
Till Gloger got Maine on the board in the games' first minute as he hit a turnaround jumper but Vermont quickly took over, going on an 8-2 run, taking the lead into the under 16:00 media timeout.
The story remained the same out of the timeout as the Catamounts went on another 8-2 run as they sprinted to a 16-6 lead. The run was capped by a Wills layup as he wound his way into the paint and laid in a bucket.
Maine struggled mightily on the offensive end as it didn't break into double-digits until the nine-minute mark, when Lawton dashed into the paint to drain one of two first half baskets.
Vermont extended its lead to 33-13, however Maine continued to show fight as Kevin Little jumped a cross-court pass and sprinted up court and hit a fastbreak layup to make it 33-13.
Nissen showed the same resolve several possessions later as he took a Calixte bounce pass, found some space and slammed down his only bucket of the half to make it 33-15 with 5:03 remaining.
In the final five minutes the two teams traded punches as Vermont outscored the Black Bears 7-5 to head to halftime up by 20 points, 40-20.
Catamounts started the next frame on a 4-0 run but Little broke the abbreviated streak with a jumper at the 17:40 mark of the second half to make it 44-22. Vermont still managed to outscore the Black Bears 8-4 in the first four minutes as the Catamounts took a 48-24 lead into the under 16 minute media timeout.
The Black Bears weren't through however as the squad put together a 16-4 run to cut the lead to just 52-40 after being down by more than 20 earlier. Little scored four points on the run and hit double-digits for the fifth-straight game.
After getting it to within 12, Vermont turned on the pressure once again going on a 10-4 run to extend the lead back out to 18 points (62-44) with 4:56 remaining in the half.
After the run Vermont held on the rest of the way securing the 68-49 victory.
The Black Bears will be back at home on Saturday for its second-to-last home game of the year when the squad plays host to Binghamton on Saturday, Feb. 7. That game is slated for 1 p.m.
