ORONO – The defensive game plan was executed to near perfection. The offense was, at best, sizzlingly effective and, at worst, capable.

So why did the University of Maine men’s basketball team still lose to defending America East champ Vermont in the friendly, loud confines of Alfond Arena Sunday afternoon? Well, Vermont is that good.

The 7-5 Catamounts overcame an effectively engineered defensive job on their top scorers thanks to some big efforts off the bench and staged a come-from-behind 71-62 victory over the Black Bears.

“Every time we play them, you really have to be ready for them to throw adjustments and schemes at you,” said Vermont coach Tom Brennan. “It’s amazing. The first half, they had us so confused.”

Yet Maine still only led by three (37-34) at halftime despite holding star forward Taylor Coppenrath to two points and outshooting the Cats 61 to 52 percent. That was because Vermont senior forward Scotty Jones was able to fill the scoring gap with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting.

With that in mind, Maine modified its combo man-to-man/zone/help defense and held Jones in check in the second half. Maine overcame a late Vermont run (8-2 with 81/2 minutes) to make it 62-61 with 31/2 minutes left, but Vermont had yet another bullet in its offensive chamber. Freshman Martin Klimes began firing with about 71/2 minutes left and scored nine of a career-high 13 points and nine of Vermont’s 18 down the stretch.

Klimes sparked Vermont’s 9-1game-deciding and ending run as he hit back-to-back jumpers from the top of the key with 2:28 to play and hit one of two foul shots 12 seconds later.

“Klimes made back-breaker shots while we were missing some shots,” said Maine coach John Giannini, whose Bears are now 8-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play. “That was the difference, having a freshman averaging [1.9] points a game come in and make the big shots of the game.”

As Klimes heated up, Coppenrath was finally breaking through Maine’s concentrated defensive effort. The 6-foot-9 junior scored five straight points with two shots from the blocks with five minutes left.

Coppenrath, who came into the game as the nation’s third-leading scorer with 25 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, wound up with 11 points and six rebounds.

“They first had two guys on me and that was when Scotty got free on isolation a little bit, Coppenrath explained. “Then they switched and kept the other guy on Scotty and had 20 [Mark Flavin] on me and him [Jones] with a double team, and it’s tough getting anything, even off screens, that way.

“They played tremendous on defense, but as a good team, you have to have other people step up. Scotty was ready in the first half and Martin made key shots in the second. That was the game right there.”

Maine point guard Eric Dobson was stellar with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal. Sophomore guard Kevin Reed (17 points, five boards) and Flavin (13 points) were solid. Both Flavin and fellow big man David Dubois fouled out in the final five minutes.

Maine was outrebounded 10-2 offensively and 34-24 overall, and outshot 49.1 to 48.8 percent.

Vermont had five double-digit scorers for the second time this season. Guard T.J. Sorrentine scored 19 points and Germain Njila had 10 rebounds.

CATAMOUNTS 71, BLACK BEARS 62

Vermont men (7-5) Maine (8-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Sorrentine 6 14 4 4 19 Dobson 7 11 20

Coppenrath 4 11 3 5 11 Reed 6 12 17

Hehn 3 5 1 2 10 Dubois 2 4 0 4

Njila 2 6 0 0 4 Campbell 1 3

Jones 5 8 1 1 11 Markwood 1 4

Klimes 6 8 1 2 13 Hadjisotirov 0 0

Jenson 1 2 0 0 3 Petkus 0 4 1

Sullivan 0 1 0 0 0 Flavin 4 6 13

Totals 27 55 10 14 71 21 43 13 21 62

3-pt. goals ? Vermont (7-15): Hehn 3-5, Sorrentine 3-7, Jenson 1-2, Njila 0-1; Maine (7-20): Dobson 2-3, Reed 2-8, Flavin 1-1, Campbell 1-3, Markwood 1-3, Petkus 0-2

Attendance: 2,103

Halftime: Maine 37-34