FINAL SCORE: Vermont 68, Maine 57
ORONO, Maine – Shamir Bogues and Vermont (21-6, 11-1 AE) battled to a hard-fought victory on the road, defeating Maine (11-15, 3-8 AE) 68-57 at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The Catamounts clinched a top-four spot in the America East Playoffs with the win.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Rollercoaster of emotions today with Coach being out," said associate head coach Ryan Schneider after filling in for Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker, who was out with an illness. "The guys continue to be awesome defensively and found a way to get stops when we needed it. I was encouraged by the hot start offensively and hopefully we can start seeing sustained stretches of that over the rest of the season. It's never easy to win on the road and we responded well after some adversity last week!"
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Catamounts jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the first 4:26, knocking down five of their first seven field goal attempts. Nick Fiorillo led the early attack with a pair of three pointers in the opening minutes. The graduate student's first three pointer sparked a run of 15 straight points for Vermont.
• Kellen Tynes sank a jumper coming out of the first media timeout as the Catamounts and Black Bears traded baskets over the next few minutes.
• Jayden Clayton's layup ignited a 9-0 run for Maine that cut the Vermont lead down to one possession, 20-18 with 9:57 left in the opening half. Quion Burns' three pointer was the basket that brought the Black Bears within two points.
• Aaron Deloney snapped the Maine run when he knocked down a triple off a baseline out of bounds play, but Burns answered with a layup to keep the Black Bears within a possession with 9:04 left in the frame. Adam Cisse's layup minutes later made it a one-point game with 7:31 to go.
• Fiorillo made two free throws to extend the UVM lead to 25-22 with 6:45 left in the half.
• Burns knocked down a free throw on the following possession and Peter Filipovity made a layup with 5:02 remaining in the opening frame to tie the game at 25-25.
• Clayton drained a three pointer from the wing with 4:13 left on the clock to put the Black Bears in front 28-25.
• Bogues sank two free throws with 2:49 left to cut the deficit to one, and Ileri Ayo-Faleye's layup with 2:17 remaining put the Cats in front, up 29-28.
• Ayo-Faleye grew the lead to five points with 0:40 remaining in the half when he drained a three-pointer that put Vermont up 34-29.
• The Vermont defense denied Maine in the late seconds of the opening frame with Ayo-Faleye pulling in the rebound. The UVM forward sprinted on the fastbreak and found Bogues cutting to the rim for a layup before the buzzer, giving the Catamounts a 36-29 lead at the half.
• The offense was slow to get going on both sides to start the second half. Ayo-Faleye registered the first point of the frame with a free throw coming with 3:40 into the half.
• Back-to-back baskets from the Black Bears cut the UVM lead to 37-33, but Matt Veretto answered with a layup to put the Cats up six.
• TJ Long's trey gave Vermont a 42-33 lead with 13:55 remaining as Vermont and Maine each traded a pair of three pointers. Tynes drilled a three after Long, with Roquemore answering to put the Catamounts back up nine with 12:48 to play. AJ Lopez sank the final three of the stretch on the following possession to put the Black Bears within six points.
• Ayo-Faleye and Bogues combined for a 6-1 run for Vermont to go back up by double-digits. Bogues gave the Catamounts the 11-point lead, making back-to-back layups to go up 51-40 with 10:47 remaining.
• Tynes led an 8-2 run for the Black Bears to cut the Catamount lead to 53-48 with 7:26 left on the clock.
• Bogues shifted the momentum back in favor of Vermont when he sank a jumper while getting fouled and converted the and-one to take a 56-48 lead with 7:09 to go. The junior put the Cats back up by double digits with a jumper on the following possession.
• Vermont held its opponent to just 3-of-8 shooting from the field over the final 6:31, while sinking 8-of-10 free throw attempts to secure the victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The Cats had the shooting advantage on the day, making 44.7% of their field goals, while holding Maine to 36.8% shooting.
• Bogues led Vermont in points (21), field goals (7-for-13), free throws (6-for-7), rebounds (7), assists (3), and steals (1). He scored 12 of his 21 points in the second half.
• Ayo-Faleye also reached double figures, scoring 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting. The forward was 1-for-3 from long range and knocked down 3-of-4 attempts at the line.
• Fiorillo rounded out the Catamounts in double figures, scoring 12 points and recording five rebounds.
• With the win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to Vermont Children's Trust Foundation as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $94,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.

UP NEXT
Vermont returns to action on Thursday (Feb. 22) when it visits conference foe UAlbany in The Empire State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET at Broadview Center. Tickets are available for purchase at ualbanysports.com.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
The matchup between the Catamounts and Great Danes will broadcast live on ESPN+. An international stream will also be available on AmericaEast.TV. Fans can listen to the game for free on the Vermont Sports Network, from Learfield on The Game, which will air on 97.1 FM in Burlington, 105.9 FM in Plattsburgh, and 960 AM around the rest of the region. The radio broadcast is also available via the Varsity Network App with Brian McLaughlin on the call.
 
McGee Automotive Family is the presenting sponsor of Vermont men's basketball