Bearcats Men Face Best in America East in Vermont Catamounts

The Binghamton Bearcats men’s basketball team is in Burlington, Vermont for an America East semifinal playoff game.  Binghamton faces the regular season champion Vermont Catamounts at 7:00 P.M tonight (air at 6:45 on News Radio 1290 WNBF).

The Catamounts are the top seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the semifinal round with a 73-57 win over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday night.  Binghamton downed second-seed Stony Brook 78-72 on Long Island  on Saturday night in a win that shocked America East.  It is just the third time a seventh seed has knocked out a second seed in the America East postseason.

Vermont racked up a 14-2 conference record in the regular season.  The Catamounts defeated Binghamton in both regular season meetings.  The Bearcats fell in Burlington 78-50 and Vermont defeated Binghamton at the Events Center by a final score of 69-63.

Vermont’s Anthony Lamb is the America East Player of the Year and is averaging 21.2 points per game plus 7.9 rebounds per contest.  He is part of a dynamic one-two punch for Vermont.  Ernie Duncan is second in scoring with a 14.2 points per game average and was an America East First Team All-Conference selection.  He is a deadly  outside shooter and has made 43 percent of his three-point shot attempts this season.

For the Bearcats the three S’s combine for the bulk of the offense.  Rookie of the Year Sam Sessoms is averaging 18.4 points per game and is coming off of a 26 point performance at Stony Brook.  Caleb Stewart averages 11.6 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 7.1 boards per game.  J.C.Show has been on fire and is now averaging 11.5 points per game.  His outside shooting has been key in the Bearcats improvement and is averaging 39 percent from beyond the arc.

The winner of tonight’s game in Burlington will meet the winner of the Hartford at UMBC contest to play for the America East Championship and a berth in the championship game on Saturday morning.