ORONO – The Vermont Catamounts had a little extra motivation to win Wednesday’s basketball game at Alfond Arena, and it showed.

America East’s top team dominated the boards offensively and defensively and outshot the suddenly slumping University of Maine men en route to a convincing 90-75 victory that avenged its only conference loss.

Vermont outrebounded Maine 55-25, including a 20-10 edge on the offensive boards, while outshooting Maine 52.9 percent to 38.5 from the floor.

“We can’t continue to keep giving up second shots, especially as close to the basket as we did tonight,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “You look at the rebounding and that’s the story of the game. They’re very big and the league’s top rebounding team, but we weren’t strong enough on boxing out.”

The Catamounts won their eighth straight and 16th in their last 17. Marqus Blakely, a 6-foot-5 freshman forward, led the way for Vermont with 24 points off the bench along with seven rebounds and two steals.

Maine drops to 11-15 overall and 6-8 in America East with its fourth loss in the last five games. Vermont (20-6) takes a firmer grip on its third regular season AE title in the last six years with a 12-1 conference mark.

Maine’s lone bright spot was Chris Bruff. The senior forward scored 17 of his 21 total points in the second half and at one point scored 12 straight for Maine, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

“We had no answer for Bruff,” said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan.

Maybe not defensively, but Lonergan did on offense with his own hot shooter in sophomore guard Mike Trimboli, who single-handedly blunted Maine’s attempts to rally.

“He was the difference. Some of the shots he made were very difficult with guys right on him, but that’s why he is the player he is,” said Woodward.

Trimboli scored 17 of his 21 in the second half while canning five of seven 3-point shots.

“I guess it was just the rhythm I got in. Once I got on a little streak, everything was going in for me so I kept shooting,” said Trimboli, who wore No. 31 after discovering he’d misplaced his No. 13 jersey. “I don’t know what happened. I think I left it in my room.”

He didn’t leave his game behind. Trimboli also harassed Maine point guard Jon Sheets defensively and held him to 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting (2-8 from 3-point range).

“Our whole game plan was limiting Sheets’ and Reed’s 3-pointers and we did that after they got off to a quick start,” said Lonergan.

The Black Bears led by as many as eight points in the first half, thanks to an 11-2 run, but even with Vermont committing eight turnovers to Maine’s four, the Bears couldn’t hold the lead, largely because of a huge rebounding disadvantage.

Senior co-captain Kevin Reed scored 17 to go with five steals and freshman guard Junior Bernal had 14 points for the Bears. Sheets made a game-high six steals.

The Cats used two scoring runs – 8-2 midway though the first half and then 18-5 in the last 6 1/2 minutes to erase a four-point Maine lead (30-26 with 7:09 left) and make it 44-35 at halftime. They never led by less than 10 in the second half.

Center-forwards Chris Holm and Martin Klimes led Vermont’s inside game with 12 points apiece and 13 and 10 rebounds, respectively, as the Cats outscored Maine 52-29 in the paint and 27-8 in second-chance points.

“That can’t happen. You can’t give up that many second and even third-chance points and win, even when you’re taking care of the ball,” said Woodward, whose Bears committed just seven turnovers to Vermont’s 19.

UMaine retired the playing jersey (number 20) of Rufus Harris before the game, presenting him with framed jersey and unveiling his block number 20 on a banner in Alfond Arena’s rafters. It’s the third men’s number to be retired, joining former coach and player Skip Chappelle (34) and Keith Mahaney (24).

CATAMOUNTS 90, BLACK BEARS 75

Vermont (20-6) Maine (11-15)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Blakely 8 11 8 13 24 Bruff 5 11 11 14 21

Holm 6 8 0 1 12 Ahvnnmi 1 2 0 2

Klimes 5 7 2 3 12 Sheets 4 13 10

Cieplicki 0 5 0 0 0 Bernal 5 15 14

Trimboli 8 14 0 0 21 Reed 6 13 17

Green 1 2 0 0 2 Socoby 0 4 3

Sisca 1 2 0 0 2 Andre 0 0 0

Trapani 0 2 0 0 0 Cook 0 1 0

Vier 0 1 0 0 0 Bofia 4 6 0 8

Powlovich 0 0 0 0 0

McCrory 3 4 0 0 6

McIntosh 4 11 3 3 11

Shields 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 36 68 13 20 90 Totals 25 65 18 26 75

Vermont 44 90

Maine 35 75

3-pt. goals – Vermont (5-15): Trimboli 5-9, Sisca 0-1, Trapani 0-1, Cieplicki 0-2, McIntosh 0-2; Maine (7-20): Reed 5-9, Sheets 2-8, Bofia 0-1, Socoby 0-2