Vermont beats UMBC 71-56 behind Henson

Jan 7, 2018, 02:15 am

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Payton Henson scored 14 points with a career-high 13 rebounds and Vermont beat UMBC 71-56 in its America East Conference home opener on Saturday night for its fourth straight win and 22nd straight win against the Retrievers.

Trae Bell-Haynes scored 13 and Ernie Duncan had 12 for the Catamounts (11-5, 2-0), who outrebounded UMBC 44-26 and shot 46 percent from the floor.

Jairus Lyles' free throws capped a 7-3 run and UMBC closed to 50-41 before Nate Rohrer's dunk sparked an 8-0 run to put Vermont up by 17. The Catamounts led 65-44 with four minutes left after scoring seven straight.

UMBC closed to 15-14 on Lamar's consecutive 3s before Vermont pulled ahead on a 15-5 run and led 44-31 at halftime on 60 percent shooting.

K.J. Maura scored 20 and Arkel Lamar had 15 with five 3-pointers for UMBC (10-7, 1-1).