ORONO, Maine - The Black Bears, coming off a regular-season-finale victory over the Binghamton Bearcats, look to carry that momentum into Burlington when they face undefeated Vermont in the first round of the America East Tournament. The Black Bears finished the regular season with a 3-13 conference record, UVM finished with a 16-0 record.
Â
Scouting Maine
The Black Bears won a close on in Vestal, New York last Saturday as they spoiled Senior Day for the Bearcats in a 72-71 victory.
Andrew Fleming led the Black Bears in points with 17, rebounds with nine, assists with six, steals with three, and blocks with two.
Austin Howard finished with 14 points,
Ryan Bernstein with 13, along with seven rebounds, and four assists on no turnovers, and
Dennis Ashley finished with 11 points;
Ilija Stojiljkovic ended with only four points but eight rebounds.
Fleming averages 10.5 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game for Maine, his performance at Binghamton awarding him his fourth America East Rookie-of-the-Week award of the season. Fleming finished the season being named to the America-East All-Rookie team.
Austin Howard after his 14-point game against Binghamton now averages 7.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. It was his ninth game this season tallying double digits.
Ryan Bernstein, who has been consistently in the top 50 nationally in assist-turnover ratio, has once again taken the top spot in America East, tying with Lucas Woodhouse with a 2.78 ratio. He averages 3.0 assists per game, and was recently awarded a spot on the America East All-Academic team.
Vincent Eze has taken well to the starter role, taking over as a starter with several teammates out with injury last month; he's now started the last 18 games for Maine, and is averaging 7.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in conference play (6.0 points, 4.9 rebounds per game overall).
Scouting Vermont
The Catamounts are touting the best winning streak in the nation, winning their last 18 and going undefeated in conference play. Their most recent victory came against Stony Brook, 66-51 in Patrick Gymnasium. The Catamounts were led by Anthony Lamb with 19 points, five rebounds, and Payton Henson, 12 points, five rebounds.
The Catamounts are winners of three major America East Awards, including player of the year Trae Bell-Haynes (11.3 points per game), Rookie of the Year Anthony Lamb (11.9 points, 5.2 rebounds per game), sixth-man of the year Darren Payen, Defensive Player of the Year Dre Wills, and Coach of the Year John Becker.
All-time series
Maine and Vermont have faced off 136 times with Maine owning the all-time series 70-66. 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 points each.
The Black Bears met again in Burlington on February 1st, 2017, with Vermont taking the game by a score of 74-53. The Black Bears' top scorers were
Ilija Stojiljkovic with 13,
Andrew Fleming with 12, and
Wes Myers with 10, while Vermont had Anthony Lamb with 15, Payton Henson with 13, and Ernie Duncan with 10. Vermont outscored Maine in the paint 44-22 in the contest.
-UMaine-
