MEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
 
The No. 3 seed Vermont men's basketball team continues its quest for a sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament Saturday morning as it takes on top-seed Stony Brook for the America East Championship on Long Island.
 
The 11 a.m. tipoff can be seen on ESPN2 and the ESPN App with Mark Jones and Brooke Weisbrod on the call. Westwood One will have the national radio broadcast of the game. Local radio coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. on ESPN 101.3 FM with AJ Kanell and Bernie Cieplicki bringing you the action.
 
RELATED LINKS
Vermont Game Notes (.pdf)
Stony Brook Game Notes
Stony Brook Game Coverage: Live Video – Live Audio (Local) – Live Audio (National) – Live Stats
UNH Flashback: Game Recap – CatamounTV Highlights
 
Last Time Out vs. New Hampshire: For the third time in the last five years, Vermont will play for the America East Championship thanks to a 63-56 win over New Hampshire in the semifinals Monday night at Patrick Gym. Ethan O'Day, playing in his final home game at Patrick Gym, led the way with 19 points and seven rebounds to go along with three blocks to set the tone defensively for the Catamounts. Kurt Steidl finished with 13 points and six boards while Ernie Duncan chipped in with 11 on 4-of-5 shooting. Dre Wills did not score in the game but hauled in a team-high eight boards and dished out three assists. A back-and-forth start the second half featured both teams matching each other shot for shot before the Catamounts stretched their lead to a game-high 19 on a free throw from Cam Ward. Tanner Leissner scored 22 of his 28 in the second half for UNH and his bucket at the 2:51 mark cut the UVM lead to nine. The Cats made enough free throws down the stretch, though, to book an appearance in Saturday's title game – the tenth in program history.
 
About Stony Brook: Stony Brook, the league's regular season champion, will be making its fifth title game appearance in the last six seasons. The Seawolves advanced to the championship game by virtue of a 80-64 win over Hartford on Monday. Jameel Warney and Carson Puriefoy each posted double-doubles in the win. Warney finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds while Puriefoy scored a game-high 22 and hauled in 10 boards. Warney and Puriefoy, both first-team all-conference selections this season, rank 1-2 in scoring for Stony Brook. Warney averages 19.0 ppg and 10.7 rpg. Puriefoy averages 14.8 ppg. Stony led the league in a handful of categories throughout the season including scoring margin, scoring offense, scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.
 
Series History: Vermont leads the all-time series with Stony Brook, which dates back to 2002, 24-10. The Catamounts have won four of six against the Seawolves. John Becker is 7-5 in his career vs. Stony Brook. Vermont is 2-0 at Island Federal Credit Union Arena, including this season's 76-62 win. On Long Island, UVM is 10-6.
 
Last Meeting vs. Stony Brook: Ernie Duncan matched a career-high with 23 points and Vermont wrapped up the regular season in style posting a 76-62 win at Stony Brook. Duncan scored 16 of his game-high 23 in the first half and shot a blistering 8-of-12 for the game including 4-of-4 from downtown. Trae Bell-Haynes finished with 16 points and Ethan O'Day chipped in with 10 points and four rebounds while limiting three-time America East Player of the Year Jameel Warney to just 13 points. Vermont was able to keep Stony Brook at arms length for a majority of the second half and led by 15 at one point early on. Stony Brook got the lead down to six after a Vermont turnover led to an Ahmad Walker transition dunk with 5:29 to play. The Cats finished the game on a 15-7 run featuring a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays for Bell-Haynes to ice the game and put the Cats up by as many as 18 late in the contest.
 
Tournament Notes: UVM has won the tournament title five times (2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012). Vermont is 34-28 all-time in the America East Tournament. UVM has the most wins in tournament history (34) among the 2015 tournament field ... Since 2003, Vermont is 27-8 in the tournament. The Catamounts have reached the semifinals in 14 of the last 15 years and the title game in nine of the last 13 years (10 times overall). Head coach John Becker is 9-3 in tournament games as a head coach. Becker was the fifth America East coach to reach the championship game in each of his first two seasons at the helm of the program. The Catamounts are 5-4 in nine prior title game appearances. For just the third time in the last 15 years, Vermont is not seeded No. 2 or better in the America East Playoffs.
 
Cats Sizzling: Over the last seven games (all wins) UVM has averaged 82.9 points per game while shooting 54.0% from the field. Vermont has a scoring margin of +16.3 during the seven-game win streak. The Cats have scored 90+ points five times this season which is the most since 1997-98 when it was done six times.
 
21 and Counting: Vermont's quarterfinal win over Maine clinched an eighth straight 20-win season for the Catamounts and 13th in the last 15 years. Monday's win over UNH gave John Becker is fourth season of at least 21 wins in just five seasons at the helm.
 
Streaking into March: During Vermont's seven-game win streak, seven players are averging more than seven points per contest led by Cam Ward and Ernie Duncan's 13.1 per game clip. UVM has 100 assists on 209 field goals during the stretch (47.8%).
 
Second Half Surge: Vermont took a step forward during the second half of league play. The Cats are averaging 82.9 points per game in the last ten games with a rebounding margin of +6.7. During the first half of league play, UVM averaged 72.4 points per game and had a rebounding margin of +0.6.
 
Bench Mob: Vermont's bench has been a key factor during the second half of league play. The Cats have outscored their opponents 294-134 off the bench over the last nine games, which is a +16.0 points per game average. Cam Ward averaged 11.3 points per game off the bench in the second half of league play - one of three Catamounts to average more than seven points during the same stretch.
 
Three's Company: Three Catamounts landed on the All-Conference Third Team following the regular season - Ethan O'Day, Kurt Steidl and Trae Bell-Haynes. O'Day earns in second all-conference selection while Bell-Haynes and Steidl - both all-rookie selections following their freshman seasons - earned all-league status for the first time.
 
Did it all for the Rookie: Averaging 15 points per game while shooting 55.6% from the field in two Vermont wins in the final week of the regular season, Ernie Duncan earned Rookie of the Week honors on Monday. He also was selected to the AE All-Rookie team.