In a fight that went down to the final shot, Vermont defeated Northeastern, 67-65, in a thrilling game in front of a sellout crowd of 2,089 at Solomon Court.
The Huskies (14-9, 8-4) tied the game at 63-63 on Jose Juan Barea's running layup with 1:08 left, but Vermont answered as T.J. Sorrentine knocked down a three-pointer with 52 seconds left.
Barea would not give up as he dropped in another layup to make it 66-65.
Vermont's Martin Klimes hit one of two free throws, leaving the Huskies with the chance to tie or win the game with the final shot.
NU put the ball in Barea's hands, but he could not convert on a three-point shot from the corner as the Catamounts walked away with their 11th conference win in 11 tries.
Barea finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-for-26 shooting. He also dished out seven assists.
Down 30-25 at halftime, Vermont (15-5, 11-0) opened the second half with an 11-0 run, and it did not trail after that.
Northeastern fought its way back after falling behind by 10, at 43-33, with 14 minutes left in the game. Javorie Wilson hit a three and Barea followed with a three-point play, cutting the lead to 43-39 with 13:21 left.
Vermont's Alex Jensen answered by connecting on two threes on consecutive possessions to give UVM a 57-45 lead with 7:32 left. The 12-point lead was the Catamounts' largest of the game. Jensen scored a season-high 18 points off the bench, all coming from behind the arc.
The Huskies came back again, this time behind Bobby Kelly's four-point play and Barea's three-pointer with 4:27 left that brought the team within three, at 60-57. Jensen hit another three before Barea came through and tied it with just over a minute left.
The Huskies shot 34 percent (22-for-65) from the field and hit 11 of 13 free throws. Vermont stepped up its shooting in the second half, going 17-for-37 (46 percent), and finished the game 25-for-58 from the field (43 percent).
Neither team got into a rhythm to start the game as turnovers plagued both the Huskies and Catamounts. Vermont turned the ball over 15 times in the first stanza while shooting only 8-for-21 (38 percent).
NU did not shoot much better in the game's first 20 minutes, going 11-for-28 (39 percent) and committing eight turnovers.
The two teams stayed close to each other, with the Huskies taking an eight-point lead, at 18-10, with 8:45 left, but Vermont came back with a 9-0 run to take the lead, at 19-18, with 6:22 on the clock.
With under two minutes left in the half and the score tied at 22-22, Barea sank two free throws and then assisted on Kelly's three-pointer with 1:15 left to give the Huskies a 27-22 lead. Jensen kept his team in it by hitting a three of his own, but Barea came right back and hit a three-pointer with three seconds left on the clock to give Northeastern a 30-25 lead going into the locker room.
Taylor Coppenrath, the America East's leading scorer, scored 18 points, six below his season average. Kelly chipped in 12 points and Wilson added 10 for the Huskies.
Northeastern forced UVM to commit a season-high 19 turnovers. The Huskies hit the road to take on Hartford on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 9:30 p.m. The game will be televised on NESN.
VISITORS: Vermont 15-5, 11-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
11 Sorrentine, T.J..... * 5-13 3-7 0-0 0 2 2 4 13 5 4 0 1 30
22 Coppenrath, Taylor.. * 7-14 0-1 4-6 1 4 5 3 18 1 4 1 1 40
24 Hehn, David......... * 0-5 0-4 0-0 5 8 13 2 0 5 3 0 1 36
32 Njila, Germain...... * 5-7 0-0 1-3 0 5 5 1 11 3 2 0 2 29
43 Jones, Scotty....... * 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6
20 Klimes, Martin...... 2-8 0-0 3-4 5 5 10 4 7 1 3 2 0 28
35 Jensen, Alex........ 6-9 6-8 0-0 0 5 5 3 18 2 2 0 2 24
40 Sullivan, Corey..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
52 Sheftic, Matt....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 25-58 9-21 8-13 14 32 46 17 67 18 19 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-21 38.1% 2nd Half: 17-37 45.9% Game: 43.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 61.5% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 14-9, 8-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 Barnes, Marcus...... * 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 4 5 0 2 0 1 19
04 Wilson, Javorie..... * 3-14 3-10 1-2 1 1 2 3 10 1 1 0 2 28
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... * 10-26 3-9 5-5 2 4 6 1 28 7 3 0 0 39
14 Davis, Bennet....... * 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 12
33 Robinson, Sylbrin... * 2-6 0-1 2-2 3 4 7 3 6 0 3 2 2 38
02 Youmans, D'wan...... 1-4 0-1 0-1 0 5 5 1 2 1 0 0 3 18
22 Kelly, Bobby........ 4-6 3-4 1-1 1 4 5 0 12 0 0 0 0 28
30 Wright, Cornellius.. 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 2 1 2 0 0 8
32 Dunn, Jesse......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 22-65 10-30 11-13 13 22 35 16 65 11 12 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 11-37 29.7% Game: 33.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 6-19 31.6% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 84.6% 0
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Officials: Timothy O'Brien, Jack Sweeney, Jeff Bryant
Technical fouls: Vermont-None. Northeastern-None.
Attendance: 2089
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Vermont....................... 25 42 - 67
Northeastern.................. 30 35 - 65
SELLOUT (2089)
Points in the paint-UVM 30,NU 24. Points off turnovers-UVM 12,NU 13.
2nd chance points-UVM 13,NU 10. Fast break points-UVM 14,NU 14.
Bench points-UVM 25,NU 16. Score tied-7 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-UVM 2nd-00:52, NU 2nd-00:44.
