BURLINGTON, Vt. – Down by just 10 points with less than four minutes to go in the second half, the Maine Black Bears could not prevent a late run by Vermont, falling 83-62 on Monday night at Patrick Gymnasium.
 
Maine drops to 4-16, and 1-4 in the America East, while Vermont improves its overall record to 14-5 and 4-0 in conference play with the win.
 
Aaron Calixte (7-12 FG, 3-7 3PT) and Ilker Er (6-15, 3-6 3PT) combined for 37 of Maine's 62 points on the night. The combo of Calixte and Er shot 55 percent from the floor, (13-27 FG), while connecting on 46 percent of shots from beyond the arc (6-13).
 
Vernon Lowndes Jr. led the charge off the glass with eight rebounds in just 15 minutes played.
 
The Black Bears hung with the first place Catamounts for the majority of the game, as the Catamounts went on a 7-0 run with the game tied at 6-6 early in the first half to take a 13-6 advantage. Er got Maine back to within one at 13-12 after sinking back-to-back 3-pointers with 11:21 left in the half.
 
The Catamounts extended their lead to six at 21-15, but Maine scored five straight after a thunderous dunk by Andrew Fleming and a deep 3-pointer by Calixte to come within one at 21-20 with 7:25 to play. 
 
After the media timeout, Vermont built a 10-point lead at 34-24, and went to the locker room with a 37-25 advantage after a 16-5 run. Calixte reached double-figures in scoring by halftime, knocking down 4-of-7 shots from the floor for 10 of Maine's 25 points in the first half.
 
Following the halftime intermission, Vermont increased its advantage to 16 at 43-27. The Catamount lead hovered between 18 to 13 for the next 14 minutes, until Er drained a layup, and was fouled on the play. The Istanbul, Turkey native sunk the free throw, as Maine trailed by just 11 at 66-55 with 5:33 to go.
 
Maine came within 10 points of Vermont twice within the final five minutes at 67-57 and 69-59, but the Catamounts ended the contest on a 14-2 run in the final 3 minutes to pick up their 25^th consecutive America East win.
 
On the stat sheet, the Black Bears held advantages in blocks (4-1), steals (4-2), and bench points (29-20).
 
Four Catamounts reached double-figures in scoring, led by Drew Urquhart's 21 points. Trae Bell-Haynes tallied 18, while Payton Henson contributed 16. Cam Ward recorded 10 to round out Vermont's top scorers.

The Black Bears return to the Cross Insurance Center this Thursday, taking on the Hartford Hawks (10-9, 3-2 AE) at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at TicketMaster.com or by visiting the Cross Insurance Center box office.
 
-UMaine-