Vermont cruises past Maine 75-60 in America East quarters

Mar 4, 2018, 03:14 am

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Trae Bell-Haynes and Payton Henson scored 21 apiece and Drew Urquhart finished with a double-double to power top-seeded Vermont to a 75-60 victory over No. 8 seed Maine on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the America East Conference Tournament.

Vermont will play fifth-seeded Stony Brook in a semifinal on Tuesday.

Bel-Haynes knocked down 3 of 4 from 3-point range, while his teammates hit just 3 of 17 from distance. Urquhart had 10 points and his 12 rebounds helped the Catamounts (26-6) control the boards 39-29. Vermont also had a decided advantage at the free-throw line where they sank 17 of 21 attempts, while the Black Bears made 6 of 7.

Isaiah White led Maine (6-26) with 17 points, while Aaron Calixte scored 11.

Maine jumped out to a 12-4 lead and trailed just 36-33 at halftime, but Bell-Haynes had six points and Henson scored four in a 14-4 run to begin the second half and the Catamounts never looked back. Vermont is aiming for its seventh America East championship.