ORONO – When basketball talk turns to Vermont sophomore forward Taylor Coppenrath, it usually centers on his shooting touch, knack for being in the right place at the right time, and ability to use his body to carve spots in the paint and control the boards.

His 3-point shooting ability doesn’t usually enter into the conversation.

Thursday night at Alfond Arena, Coppenrath’s long-distance shooting was the difference as he canned three of five 3-pointers, none more important than the slightly off-balance one he nailed with 2.7 seconds left from just beyond the top of the key. The shot provided the winning points in Vermont’s dramatic 65-62 men’s basketball victory over the University of Maine.

Vermont’s 6-foot-9 forward finished with a game-high 27 points and six rebounds to lead the 6-6 Catamounts to victory in the America East conference opener for both teams.

Coppenrath got his chance to close out the game’s scoring when Grant Anderson grabbed away a ball from Maine guard Kevin Reed, who bobbled the ball near half-court after getting a pass from teammate Eric Dobson under heavy Vermont pressure. Anderson swiped the ball with four seconds left, drove to the right corner, came to the wing, and found Coppenrath near the key.

After Coppenrath’s shot, Maine called timeout, but couldn’t manage a shot as Joe Campbell had to track down a loose ball and time ran out.

It was the second of two especially damaging turnovers in a 13-second span for Maine and the final two of 23 in the game.

“We just made too many mistakes down the stretch,” said Maine coach John Giannini, whose Bears are now 5-8 on the season. “Turnovers killed us … Two led to five [Vermont] points.”

Reed (6-for-9 from 3-point range) led the Bears with 21 points while Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov contributed 11 in his second game since transferring from Boston College.

Maine had a 62-60 lead with 28 seconds left before David Hehn tied it with a shot from the paint off Scotty Jones’ steal of Campbell’s inbound pass and assist with 21 seconds left.

Oh, by the way, Coppenrath is now 13-for-26 from 3-point range this season.

“He’s a just a great player,” said Giannini, when asked how Vermont’s forward was able to torment his Bears. “He will go down as one of the greatest players in conference history and I believe he’s well on his way to 2,500 [career] points.”

Maine made its biggest push on the strength of Eric Dobson’s passing and Reed’s long distance shooting midway through the second half. Reed canned three straight 3’s in a 94-second span to key a 13-3 run, which was capped by Udo Hadjisotirov’s 3-pointer from the left wing off Dobson’s fourth assist in a 21/2-minute span. The result was a 53-48 Bears lead with 7:07 left in the game.

Maine was able to turn around the rebounding edge in the second half. The Bears dominated the boards 20-9 after being outrebounded 22-18 in the first. Senior center Justin Rowe led the Bears with 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Unfortunately, the turnover ratio didn’t go the same way as a four to 10 edge for Vermont ballooned to 10 to 23.

Points were hard to come by in the first half. After Campbell opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 39 seconds into the game, one Vermont free throw and a Grant Anderson basket accounted for the only points scored over the next six minutes.

The score remained close for much of the half as neither team led by more than four points until the Catamounts closed out the first half with an 8-0 run that gave them a 29-21 halftime lead. Coppenrath helped fuel the run with five of his 13 first half points.

Coppenrath was able to get free inside against Maine’s defensive tag-team duo of White and Brown, who each had four first half fouls while guarding Vermont’s big man, who drew none of his own.

Maine shot 33.3 percent from 3-point range, but a subpar 27.6 percent (8-for-29) from the field against Vermont’s soft man-to-man defense in the first half while the Catamounts shot 38.7 percent overall and just 1-for-6 from 3-point range.

Maine scame out of the locker room with a 9-4 run to shrink Vermont’s lead to three points three minutes into the half.

Dobson dished out a game-high eight assists for Maine while Jones finished with 15 points for Vermont.

CATAMOUNTS 65, BLACK BEARS 62

Vermont (6-6) Maine (5-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Coppenrath 10 21 4 6 27 Dobson 3 12 6

Hehn 1 3 5 5 7 Reed 8 13 2 24

Njila 2 5 0 0 4 Campbell 1 3

G. Anderson 2 4 1 2 5 White 3 4 7

Sheftic 2 9 1 1 5 Rowe 2 4 4

A. Anderson 0 2 0 0 0 Hadjisotirov 4 11

Goia 1 6 0 0 2 Petkus 0 0 0 0

Jones 6 12 3 4 15 Hill 1 2 3

Dubois 0 0 0 0

Jackson 0 0 0 0

Brown 2 5 0 4

Totals 24 62 14 18 65 24 54 62

Vermont 29 65

Maine 21 62

3-pt. goals: Vermont (3-12): Coppenrath 3-5, Hehn 0-1, G. Anderson 0-1, A. Anderson 0-2, Goia 0-3; Maine (10-25): Reed 6-9, Hadjisotirov 2-6, Campbell 1-5, Hill 1-2, Dobson 0-3

Attendance: 1,320