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Vermont captures America East title

Mar 11, 2012 - 12:27 AM Stony Brook, NY (Sports Network) - Four McGlynn had 14 points, the only Vermont player to score more than eight, but the Catamounts still claimed the America East title with a 51-43 victory over Stony Brook.

Sandro Carissimo registered eight points and five rebounds for the second- seeded Catamounts (23-11), who are advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in school history despite not converting a field goal for nearly the final 10 minutes of the game.

Vermont's Brian Voelkel dished out seven assists and pulled down 15 rebounds.

"In our very first meeting back in July, we talked about getting to this point and it's here," said Vermont coach John Becker.

Al Rapier and Dave Coley scored 10 points apiece for top-seeded Stony Brook (22-9), which lost in the conference's championship game for the second straight year.

The Seawolves were unbeaten (13-0) at home this season. But each of those wins came at Pritchard Gym. Saturday's contest was played at Stony Brook Arena.

Vermont led by as many as 17 in the second half, but endured a long dry spell during which the Seawolves put together a 14-1 run to pull within 47-43 on two Bryan Dougher free throws with a minute to play. The senior guard was fouled as he threw up a wild shot from beyond the arc.

Stony Brook then forced a turnover but Coley missed a jumper, and Vermont sealed the win at the foul line.

"It was just a great team effort, something we've been doing all year," said Becker.

Vermont jumped out to an 11-4 lead as Stony Brook struggled to find its rhythm offensively. The Catamounts built their first double-digit lead, 20-9, on McGlynn's off-balance three-pointer with the shot clock on the verge of expiring.

A nifty layup by Carissimo made it 22-9 with about 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. Vermont limited Stony Brook to 29.6 percent shooting and held a 26-19 halftime lead.

The Catamounts opened the second half with a Carissimo trey and bucket by Luke Apfeld, but Stony Brook answered with back-to-back threes by Marcus Rouse and Dougher, trimming its deficit to 31-25.

A 15-4 run by the Catamounts put them ahead 46-29 with just under 10 minutes to play. The surge was sparked by McGlynn, who drained a trio of shots from beyond the arc.

Game Notes

Vermont last reached the NCAA Tournament in 2010...Both the Catamounts and Seawolves entered Saturday having won 13 of their last 14 games...Home teams had won each of the last four America East title games...For just the fourth time since the format of the conference tournament changed so that the highest remaining seed hosted the title game, the home team lost (25-4)...Dougher broke Stony Brook's Division I record for career points. He entered the game one point behind D.J. Munir (1,590 from 2000-04) and finished with eight.