Maine knocks off No. 1 Vermont in OT Bears play Boston U. Saturday for AE title

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BOSTON – On Saturday afternoon, as his Vermont Catamounts were busy dismantling Stony Brook in the America East quarterfinals, coach Tom Brennan spied Maine coach John Giannini – 50 feet away, all the way across the Matthews Arena basketball court – and greeted him.

“We want you, Doc!” the always entertaining and quirky Brennan yelled, ignoring the game that he was supposed to be coaching and referring to a potential semifinal matchup. “We want you!”

On Sunday, a moral likely became apparent to Brennan: Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.

The No. 5 Black Bears battled back from a nine-point second-half deficit against top-ranked Vermont, sent the game to overtime on an Errick Greene jumper with 5.5 seconds to play, and won it in the extra period as Clayton Brown scored six of UMaine’s 10 points in a 61-59 win.

The game marked the second straight outing in America East tourney play that UMaine came back from a nine-point deficit over the game’s final 10 minutes of action.

The Black Bears improved to 12-17 and earned a berth in Saturday’s America East championship game at Boston University’s Case Gym. The nationally televised game begins at 11:30 a.m. The No. 2 Terriers advanced to the final when they defeated Hartford on a spectacular last-second play in Saturday’s first semifinal: Stijn Dhondt fielded a court-length pass with .8 left on the clock, turned, and banked in a 3-pointer as the horn sounded for a 63-60 win.

The appearance in the league championship game will be the third in UMaine history, and its first since the Bears lost to Drexel in 1994. UMaine also made it to the title game in 1991, losing to Northeastern. The league tourney winner earns a berth in the 65-team NCAA tournament, and league officials indicated that the America East entry may be tucked into the lone first-round, or play-in, game between the No. 64 and No. 65 seeds.

The Bears led for the final 4:16 of the extra period, but after T.J. Sorrentine made a runner in the lane with 19.5 seconds to go made it 60-59 and Maine’s Todd Tibbetts made one of two free throws on the other end to push the lead back to two, UMaine had to do what they’d found a way to do all afternoon long: Get another defensive stop.

Make that three defensive stops.

First, Sorrentine missed. Then Taylor Coppenrath missed a tip-in. And finally, after Vermont dove on the rebound with 1.6 seconds to play and called a timeout, David Hehn missed a desperation shot from the left wing as time expired.

The game’s key stat: UMaine held two of Vermont’s three stars – America East player of the year Sorrentine and rookie of the year Coppenrath – to a collective 7-for-34 shooting effort.

Asked to explain the defense on Sorrentine, Giannini pointed at junior guard Derrick Jackson and said, simply, “It was him.”

“He’s a great defender,” he added. “Since his freshman year he’s guarded the best perimeter player on the other team. He’s a remarkable competitor and an outstanding defender.”

The fruits of Jackson’s labor: Sorrentine, the speedy UVM point guard, struggled, shooting 4-for-21 from the floor. In three games against Vermont this season, Jackson and the Bears held Sorrentine to 10-for-46 shooting.

In addition, Jackson provided a needed spark from the perimeter, hitting two straight 3-pointers in the final six minutes of the game to cap a 14-2 run that brought the Bears back from what had been a 44-35 deficit.

Freddy Petkus and Brown also nailed 3-pointers during that run.

Jackson finished with 13 points for the Bears, while Brown had 12. Seven-foot center Justin Rowe added nine points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks, while Greene scored six and grabbed 10 rebounds.

“This is my last go-round, and I’m not ready to go home,” Greene said. “I’m not ready to go on spring break.”

Trevor Gaines paced the Catamounts with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Grant Anderson pitched in with 13 points and 11 boards. Sorrentine scored 12.

“This just isn’t another win for us,” Giannini said. “This is a big step forward for our program, and it happened during a year that’s been extremely difficult.

“This is what happened: We absolutely would not lower our goals. These guys dug, they let me push them. They let me push them and push them some more, so that they’d be ready to win a game like this.”

BU 63, Hartford 60

Stijn Dhondt?s only field goal of the game was a turnaround 3-pointer as time expired and Boston University beat Hartford 63-60 Sunday in the semifinals of the America East tournament.

Chaz Carr led Boston University with 20 points, while Ryan Butt had 14 and Billy Collins added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Junior Amos had 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Hawks (14-18).

Hartford had tied the game with .8 seconds left on a 15-foot jumper by Mantas Storpirstis.

The Terriers called a timeout and had to inbound the ball from under their own basket, but the long pass found Dhondt, who finished 1-for-2 from the field and had three points.

Boston University allowed Hartford a chance at tying by going 3-for-6 from the free throw line over the final minute.

Carr hit one of two free throws with 18 seconds left to give BU a 59-55 lead, but Amos brought Hartford within one by making a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.

BLACK BEARS 61, CATAMOUNTS 59 (OT)

Maine (12-17) Vermont (21-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Tibbetts 2 6 1 2 7 Sorrentine 4 21 3 4 12

Jackson 5 14 1 1 13 A. Anderson 0 0

Greene 2 11 2 4 6 Coppenrath 3 13 0 0 7

White 4 7 0 0 8 G. Anderson 6 13

Rowe 4 12 1 2 9 Gaines 9 15 2 20

Petkus 2 6 0 0 6 Goia 1 2 3

Brown 4 8 3 4 12 Hehn 1 6 2

Njila 1 2 0 2

McLaughlin 0 0 0

Totals 23 64 8 13 61 Totals 25 69 59

Maine 31 51 61

Vermont 23 51 59

3-pt. goals ? Maine (7-22): Tibbetts 2-6, Jackson 2-6, Greene 0-2, Petkus 2-6, Brown 1-2; Vermont (4-19): Sorrentine 1-8, Coppenrath 1-2, G. Anderson 1-1, Gaines 0-1, Goia 1-2, Hehn 0-4, Njila 0-1

Attendance: 2,402