Northeastern's bid for its first conference title since 1991 came up short Saturday as top-seeded Vermont overpowered the Huskies en route to an 80-57 win in the Choice Hotels International America East championship game in front of an energized crowd of 3,266 at Patrick Gym.
The win gives the Catamounts (24-6) their third straight league crown and resulting trip to the NCAA tournament. Northeastern (21-9) will learn Sunday if it will receive a bid to the National Invitation Tournament.
“I hope we're deserving of an NIT bid," Everhart said. "We're a lot better team than we showed today. I'm very disappointed we weren't prepared to play better. We had an opportunity, but we didn't get it done.”
Tournament MVP Taylor Coppenrath put forth a superhuman effort, scoring a game-high 37, 25 in the second half. He scored all but seven of his team's points in the final 20 minutes. Coppenrath tied a conference tournament record by making 17 shots from the field.
Senior Marcus Barnes' three-pointer three minutes into the game brought Northeastern within two, 7-5. Vermont then embarked on a 14-2 run over the next 3:30 to open up a 21-7 lead. Martin Klimes had seven points in that stretch, which was capped by a three from the corner by Germain Mope Njila.
The Huskies cut it to 23-13 on a Janon Cole free throw, but the Catamounts ran off the next eight points to grab an 18-point advantage. Klimes' putback at 7:58 gave UVM a 31-13 lead.
“It's tough when (junior) Jose (Juan Barea) is not making those short shots, especially since we're not a great offensive rebounding team," Everhart said. "They got the ball down the court fast. That really hurt us in the middle of the first half.” Sophomore Adrian Martinez ended the Husky drought with a three-pointer 30 seconds later.
The Vermont bulge reached 19 three times in the first half, the last on a Coppenrath mid-range jumper with 3:20 on the clock, which made it 42-23.
After junior Aaron Davis' baseline jumper with 1:50 remaining made it 42-28, the teams traded three-pointers for the rest of the half. Barea and Davis nailed long-range shots for NU and T.J. Sorrentine and David Hehn did the same for UVM, which took a 48-34 lead into the locker room. The 48 points are the most the Huskies allowed in the first half this season.
The Catamounts shot 61.8 percent (21-for-34) in the first stanza. Both teams had it going from beyond the arc, with Northeastern making 50 percent (6-for-12) of its three-point attempts and Vermont converting 62.5 percent (5-for-8).
Coppenrath took over the game in the second half, when he scored 25 of his team's first 27 points. His layup just before the shot clock expired gave the Catamounts a 24-point lead, 64-40, with 10 minutes left. Coppenrath's bucket with 4:50 left gave his team a game-high 26-point advantage.
A possible comeback was made nearly impossible after the Huskies lost their floor leader with 13:58. Barea came down on an opposing player's foot and rolled his ankle, forcing him to leave the game. He did not return.
Barea, who made the all-tournament team for the second time in his career, finished with a team-high 14 points, but he was just 6-of-16 from the floor. Martinez was the only other Husky in double figures, with 11.
NU struggled mightily in the second half, when it shot just 28.6 percent (8-for-28).
“We're very disappointed we didn't play better," Everhart said. "I don't think we converted well. We missed some easy shots. When you do that against a team like Vermont, it can get ugly in a hurry.”
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs Vermont
03/12/05 11:30am at Burlington, Vt. (Patrick Gym)
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VISITORS: Northeastern 21-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Davis, Bennet....... f 3-5 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 3 7 0 2 0 2 20
22 Kelly, Bobby........ f 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 27
21 James, Shawn........ c 3-6 0-1 2-3 6 2 8 3 8 1 3 4 1 31
03 Barnes, Marcus...... g 2-11 2-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 6 0 1 0 0 30
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 6-16 2-6 0-2 1 2 3 1 14 5 4 0 0 24
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 3-7 3-5 2-2 0 1 1 0 11 0 3 0 1 22
12 Davis, Aaron........ 2-6 1-3 0-2 2 0 2 1 5 0 2 1 0 17
33 Cole, Janon......... 2-5 0-0 2-3 1 2 3 0 6 0 0 0 0 20
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 21-58 9-25 6-12 11 17 28 12 57 7 16 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-30 43.3% 2nd Half: 8-28 28.6% Game: 36.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-13 23.1% Game: 36.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 50.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: Vermont 24-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 Coppenrath, Taylor.. f 17-24 1-3 2-2 3 6 9 3 37 4 4 2 3 33
32 Mopa Njila, Germain. f 4-10 1-2 0-0 3 6 9 0 9 7 5 1 3 36
20 Klimes, Martin...... c 7-7 0-0 1-1 2 3 5 2 15 5 1 1 0 29
11 Sorrentine, T.J..... g 4-12 3-7 0-1 0 2 2 3 11 4 4 0 2 37
24 Hehn, David......... g 1-4 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 0 1 0 1 34
14 Cieplicki, Kyle..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
21 Powlovich, Chad..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
25 McCrory, Timothy.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
35 Jensen, Alex........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
44 Schneider, Ryan..... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 2
50 Duell, Josh......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 1 0 2 0 0 0 15
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 35-64 7-17 3-4 13 28 41 14 80 24 15 4 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 21-34 61.8% 2nd Half: 14-30 46.7% Game: 54.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 41.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-2 100 % Game: 75.0% 0,1
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Officials: Fran Connolly, John Hughes, Bob Adams
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. Vermont-None.
Attendance: 3266
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 34 23 - 57
Vermont....................... 48 32 - 80
2005 Choice Hotels International America East Men's Basketball Championship...
Vermont third-straight America East title and third-straight NCAA bid...
All-Tournament Team: Barea (NU), Mopa Njila (UVM), Klimes (UVM),Sorrentine(UVM
Coppenrath (UVM)-Most Outstanding Player
Points in the paint-NU 20,VERMONT 48. Points off turnovers-NU 5,VERMONT 15.
2nd chance points-NU 9,VERMONT 13. Fast break points-NU 0,VERMONT 6.
Bench points-NU 22,VERMONT 5. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-01:10, VERMONT 2nd-00:58.
