ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears, who are entering the second half of conference play on a five-game conference losing skid, travel to Vermont for a Wednesday night bout that pits the Black Bears against the conference-best 8-0 Vermont Catamounts.
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SCOUTING MAINE
Maine is coming off a tough loss at home against Binghamton which saw a low-scoring first half ending in an 11-point loss for the Black Bears;
Wes Myers led all scorers with 22 points, along with seven rebounds and two steals.
Andrew Fleming and
Ryan Bernstein both finished with eight points each.
Myers leads the team in points per game with 17.0, 23.0 in conference play; he ranks third in conference in points per game. Myers also ranks 56th nationally for made free throws with 98 (ranked third in conference).
Andrew Fleming follows close behind in the scoring column with 9.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game; he's fourth in conference in rebounds per game.
Ryan Bernstein is ranked 13th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio with a conference-high 3.26 after his five-assist/zero-turnover performance against Binghamton. He has 75 assists on the season, averaging 3.3 per game.
Vincent Eze has started the last 10 games for Maine and has seen his play time and stats steadily increasing. He is averaging 8.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in conference play.
SCOUTING VERMONT
The Catamounts have been very strong in conference play through the first half of the America East schedule with a perfect 8-0 record against conference opponents, winning 10 straight games since December 21st; their most recent win comes against Stony Brook, as the Catamounts took down the Seawolves 71-64. Ernie Duncan had a game-high 22 points, along with four rebounds/assists and a steal. Payton Henson and Anthony Lamb both had 10 points in the contest.
Trae Bell-Haynes leads the Catamounts in scoring this season with 11.4 points per game, 13.6 in conference. Payton Henson follows close behind with 11.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Anthony Lamb leads the conference in blocked shots per game with 1.04; he's averaging 10 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Maine and Vermont have faced off 135 times with Maine owning the all-time series 70-65. Vermont has been undefeated in the matchup since January 22, 2013, Maine's last victory against the Catamounts, where Justin Edwards and Ali Fraser went off for 22 and 20 points respectively in Alfond Arena.
In game one of the 2016-17 season series, Vermont traveled up to Bangor to take down Maine in both teams' conference opener by a final score of 90-77. Vermont had four players in double figures, Kurt Steidl with 20 points (five rebounds, three assists and blocks, two steals), Trae Bell-Haynes and Anthony Lamb with 15, and Darren Payen with 12. For the Black Bears,
Wes Myers dropped 30 points with
Ryan Bernstein,
Austin Howard, and
Aaron Calixte dropping 12, 11 and 11 respectively.
-UMaine-
