Flavin leads Black Bears to upset of Catamounts UMaine secures No. 4 seed for conference tourney

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Mark Flavin finished with 17 points and two blocked shots to lead the University of Maine Black Bears to a 72-67 men’s basketball victory over Vermont Sunday in the America East regular-season finale for both teams.

The win snapped Maine’s three-game losing streak to the Catamounts and clinched fourth place in the AE tournament for the Bears, who will begin playoff action at noon Saturday against No. 5 Binghamton University (14-15, 10-8) at Walter Brown Arena in Boston.

Maine is now 18-9 overall and 12-6 in AE play while No. 2 seed Vermont is 19-8 (15-3).

Maine guard Udo Hadjisotirov equaled a career high for scoring in a game with 16 points in 23 minutes off the bench. The 6-foot-2 senior guard from Sofia, Bulgaria, also dished out five assists.

Kevin Reed had 11 points, seven rebounds, and two steals while Eric Dobson had eight points, seven assists, and two steals. The Bears offset a poor performance at the foul line (14-for-29 shooting) by blocking seven shots – three by Chris Markwood of South Portland – and making seven steals while committing a season-low nine turnovers. Markwood also had nine points and two steals.

Center Scott Jones led the Catamounts with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Corey Sullivan had 11 points and guard T.J. Sorrentine shot 4-for-19 from the field, but still managed 10 points to go with eight assists.

Maine, which outshot Vermont 60.9 percent to 37.1 in the second half and 47.3 to 38.8 in the entire game, didn’t take its first lead until there were 15 minutes, 21 seconds left in the game.

Vermont tied the game at 57-all with 4:57 to play, but Maine extended its lead to six points with back-to-back baskets by Reed and Markwood. Vermont got within three points with 21 seconds remaining, but Dobson hit a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left. Hadjisotirov capped the scoring for Maine with a dunk with seven seconds remaining.

BLACK BEARS 72, CATAMOUNTS 67

Maine (18-9) Vermont (19-8)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Campbell 4 6 0 2 9 Sullivan 5 10 0 0 11

Markwood 3 7 3 7 9 Sheftic 0 3 2

Flavin 6 10 5 8 17 Jones 7 11 17

Dobson 2 6 4 10 8 Sorrentine 4 19 1 2 10

Reed 4 12 2 2 11 Phelan 0 0 0 0

Hadjisotirov 6 11 0 0 16 Klimes 3 5 6

Petkus 0 2 0 0 0 Hehn 3 9 9

Dubois 0 0 0 0 0 Njila 4 5 8

Ahvenniemi 1 1 0 0 2 Jensen 0 4 0

Hanson 0 1 4 4

Totals 26 55 14 29 72 Totals 26 67 11 20 67

Maine 28 72

Vermont 32 67

3-pt. goals ? Maine (6-23): Hadjisotirov 4-6, Campbell 1-3, Reed 1-7, Petkus 0-1, Markwood 0-3, Dobson 0-3; Vermont (4-22): Hehn 2-5, Sullivan 1-5, Sorrentine 1-10, Jensen 0-2

Attendance: 3,252