ORONO, Maine -- After squaring off on Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Center, the Maine Black Bears (6-25, 3-13 AE) and Vermont Catamounts (25-6, 15-1 AE) switch venues, battling at Patrick Gymnasium on Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the America East Playoffs. The opening tip is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Burlington.
LAST TIME OUT: The UMaine men's basketball team put together a strong overall performance against America East regular-season champion Vermont, but the Black Bears ultimately fell 74-62 on Tuesday night at the Cross Insurance Center.
Aaron Calixte led Maine with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor, while also distributing six assists.
Andrew Fleming netted a season-high 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds, while adding a block and two steals.
Isaiah White and
Ilija Stojiljkovic also registered double-figures in scoring, pouring in 10 points each. White added two steals, while Stojiljkovic was just one rebound away from a double-double. On the stat sheet, Maine led in points in the paint (36-24), bench points (15-10), offensive rebounds (14-8), steals (6-4), and had fewer turnovers (14-13). Vermont held significant advantages in field goal percentage (47.1% to 38.5%), along with free throw percentage (81.8% to 58.3%). Four Catamounts reached in double-figures in scoring, with America East Player of the Year Trae Bell-Haynes leading the pack with 16 points. Ernie Duncan and Drew Urquhart tallied 14, while Payton Henson added 12.
THE SERIES: Maine leads the all-time series by a slim margin of 70-69, as the Black Bears are the lone America East team to lead a series over the Catamounts. However, Vermont has won 13 consecutive contests, dating back to 2012-13. In Maine's last win over Vermont on Jan. 22, 2013, Alasdair Frasier came two assists away from a triple double (20-10-8), while Justin Edwards scored a game-high 22 points in a 71-68 win over the Catamounts at Alfond Arena. The two squads met got the first time in 1949-50, and have met at least once per year since.
BLACK BEAR/CATAMOUNT POSTSEASON: Since 1990, Maine and Vermont have met in the America East/North Atlantic Conference playoffs seven times, including the each of the last two seasons. Vermont has earned wins in five of the seven games, taking victories in the last four meetings, including an 86-41 win last season at Patrick Gymnasium. The Black Bears and Catamounts squared off in the America East title game in 2003-04, with Vermont prevailing with a 72-53 win to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The last time Maine defeated Vermont in the playoffs was in 1995-96, when the No. 3 seed Black Bears took down the No. 6 seed Catamounts at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Delaware in the NAC Quarterfinals. In 1994, Maine earned a 77-55 win over Vermont as a No. 2 seed in the NAC Quarterfinals.
A LOOK AT THE CATAMOUNTS: Vermont, the defending America East Champions, seeks its second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, and will have to go through Maine to reach the semifinal round. On Thursday, the America East Conference announced that Trae Bell-Haynes won the conference's Player of the Year and a landed spot on the first team all-conference team. Ernie Duncan, and Drew Urquhart earned all-conference second-team. John Becker earned Co-Coach of the Year with Hartford's John Gallagher. Against Maine on Tuesday, Anthony Lamb played in his first game of the New Year, missing a significant amount of time due to a foot injury. Lamb is Vermont's leading scorer this season with 16 points per contest.
CALIXTE IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Entering the America East playoffs, Calixte ranks 16
th in school history in career points (1,114), 12
th in career assists (290), and 15
th in 3-point field goals made (117). With one season of eligibility left, his .879 career free throw percentage ranks the best in program history. With 531 points this season, he ranks ninth points in a season in school-history.
AE AWARDS: After leading the Black Bears in most statistical categories during the regular season,
Aaron Calixte landed on the America East All-Conference Third Team, the conference office announced on Thursday afternoon. Calixte averaged 17.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and tallied 27 steals in 31 games played in the regular season. He is one of two Black Bears to start in every game, leading Maine in points (531), field goal percentage (.484), 3-point field goal percentage (.391), assists (98), and tied for the team-lead in steals. The Stoughton, Massachusetts, native is among the most efficient free throw shooters in the country, ranking 14
th nationally in free throw percentage. He made 106 of his 118 attempts on the year, sinking an impressive .898 percent. He leads the America East in the category, and put together impressive consecutive free throw made steaks of 37 (school record) and 25. In 16 America East conference games, Calixte played his best basketball of the season. Maine's co-captain ranked third in the conference in scoring (19.3 ppg.) and field goal percentage (51.6 percent), along with tying for fourth in assists (3.8 per game) during the conference season.
FLEMING VS. VERMONT: In four career games against Vermont,
Andrew Fleming is averaging 13.8 points, and 4.8 boards, including two 18-point performances against Vermont last Tuesday and in the 2017 America East playoffs at Patrick Gymnasium.
MAINE IN THE AE/NAC PLAYOFFS: The Black Bears have struggled in recent memory in the America East playoffs, falling in 12 consecutive postseason contests. Maine last won a playoff game on March 5, 2005, with the Black Bears defeating Boston University, 47-45. The No. 6 seeded Black Bears led by Mark Flavin and Joe Campbell's 11 points took down the No. 3 seed Terriers in front of 3,062 spectators at the Events Center in Vestal, N.Y. The Black Bears have never won the America East Championship (or the North Atlantic Championship), but advanced to the championship game on four occasions in 2004 (Vermont 72, Maine 53), 2002 (Boston University 66, Maine 40), 1994 (Drexel 86, Maine 78), and 1991 (Northeastern 57, Maine 46).
QUOTEABLE: At Tuesday nights post-game press conference, UMaine Head Coach
Bob Walsh was asked what Maine could do on Saturday to put Maine in a position to win against Vermont. "Composure," responded Walsh. "It will be a little bit different. It's Patrick Gym in the playoffs. The energy they get off of that crowd. We try to prepare in an environment every day where we demand a lot, so that we don't really have talk about going on the road."
UP NEXT: The America East playoffs reseed following the quarterfinal games, with the top seed hosting the lowest remaining seed. If Maine wins, it would travel to UMBC if the Retrievers win against UMass Lowell; Hartford if UMBC falls to UMass Lowell and the Hawks beat New Hampshire; UAlbany if both UMBC and Hartford lose in their first round matchups and the Great Danes defeat Stony Brook; or Stony Brook if the top four seeds fall in the quarterfinal round. The semifinal round games will take place on March 6.
-UMaine-
