UMBC won’t have chance at upset this year
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Vermont learned from its loss last year on its home floor to Maryland-Baltimore County in the America East Tournament title game – a result that paved the way for an even bigger win by UMBC.
Anthony Lamb scored 28 points, and Vermont beat UMBC 66-49 on Saturday to win the America East championship and earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
It was the seventh conference title overall and second in three years for the Catamounts (27-6), who got their revenge on the anniversary of 16th-seeded UMBC’s shocking upset of top-seeded Virginia in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“I’m impressed how well we grew over the season and today was a full team effort,” Vermont coach John Becker said. “These games are surreal because of the crowd and noise. We were tougher this year because of that game. We had a lot of young guys, so credit our new leadership.”
Lamb, the America East player of the year, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He went 8 for 16 from the field and had nine rebounds, and he led a strong defensive effort from the Catamounts, who held the Retrievers to 34-percent shooting.
N.C. Central 50, Norfolk State: Zacarry Douglas scored all 10 of his points during a 25-6 second-half run and North Carolina Central won its third consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament with a 50-47 victory against top-seeded Norfolk State.
The Eagles (18-15) earned another trip to the NCAA Tournament despite missing nine of their last 10 shots and not scoring for the final 4:03.
Utah State 64, San Diego State 57: Sam Merrill scored 24 points, Neemias Queta had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Utah State won its first Mountain West Conference championship with a 64-57 victory over San Diego State on Saturday.
Utah State (28-6) scored the first 13 points of the second half to pull away after leading 34-32 at halftime. The Aggies, who joined the conference in 2013-14, were the No. 2 seeds after sharing the regular-season title with No. 14 Nevada.
Merrill, who went 11 of 12 from the free throw line, was the tournament’s MVP. Abel Porter had 10 points for the Aggies, who have won 10 straight and 17 of their last 18 games.
Fourth-seeded San Diego State got no closer than five points on two occasions after Utah State’s run, cutting it to 60-55 in the final minute. But Merrill responded by hitting two free throws with 43 seconds left to seal it.