NCAA Game Summary - Maine at Vermont

Burlington, VT (Basketball News) - Taylor Coppenrath returned from nearly a month-long layoff to pour in a career-high 43 points, including 28 in the first half, as Vermont captured the America East Conference Tournament championship with a 72-53 victory over Maine.

Coppenrath, who also grabbed 13 rebounds, finished 14-of-19 from the field and 14-of-15 from the free throw line. He had been sidelined since mid-February with a broken bone in his left wrist.

Germain Njila added 13 points for the Catamounts (22-8), who played on their home floor as the highest remaining seed in the tournament and earned the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid for the second consecutive year.

Eric Dobson paced Maine with 11 points and 10 boards. Joe Campbell had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Black Bears (20-10).

Dobson’s layup with 14:34 left in the first half gave Maine a 10-8 lead.

Vermont then went on a 14-0 burst to take a 22-10 advantage midway through the first half. Coppenrath had nine points and Njila added the other five during the run.

The Black Bears scored the next eight points to cut the deficit to four, but the Catamounts answered with a 16-2 spurt, keyed by 12 points from Coppenrath, to grab a 38-20 lead with 1:49 remaining in the half.

Vermont eventually held a 40-23 advantage at the intermission. Coppenrath was 11-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the foul line in the opening 20 minutes. The rest of the team combined to make only 3-of-14 field goal attempts.

Maine shot just 34.6 percent from the field in the first half (9-of-26).

The Black Bears then opened the second half with an 18-9 run, culminated by Kevin Reed’s layup, to pull within 49-41 with 11:47 left.

Vermont again responded, this time with a 13-4 spurt to push the margin back to 17 at 62-45 with 4:51 remaining. T.J. Sorrentine nailed a three-pointer during the decisive run and Coppenrath capped it with a jumper.

Maine got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.