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UVM men's basketball holds off UNH, books third straight America East title-game berth
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- UVM men's basketball holds off UNH, books third straight America East title-game berth
Vermont's lleri Ayo-Faleye engulfed America East Conference men's basketball player of the year Clarence Daniels at every turn.
"He's the key for them to win, so if he's not going, then they are not going," Ayo-Faleye said of the New Hampshire star.
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Ayo-Faleye also flexed an offensive game in Tuesday's conference semifinals.
"It's just going in and trying to dominate and to play as hard as I can and do whatever it takes to help us win," the redshirt junior forward said.
And with Ayo-Faleye's influence on both ends of the floor, the Catamounts are one step closer to a championship three-peat.
Behind Ayo-Faleye's career-high 19 points on 6 of 7 shooting while locking down Daniels, top-seeded Vermont fended off No. 4 New Hampshire for a 66-59 victory in front of 2,487 at Patrick Gym, sending the Catamounts back to the league title game.
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The two-time defending champion Catamounts (27-6) will look to join the 2004-05 team with three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. The championship appearance will also be Vermont's 10th under John Becker, who has guided the Catamounts into six March Madness trips in his 13-year tenure.
UVM's Ileri Ayo-Faleve puts an exclamation point on it late in the second half as the Catamounts defeat the New Hampshire Wildcats 66-59 in an America East semifinal matchup on Tuesday evening at Patrick Gym
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Vermont will host No. 2 UMass Lowell (22-9), a 77-70 victory over Bryant in Tuesday's other semifinal, in a 2023 championship rematch. The 11 a.m. Saturday tip-off at Patrick Gym will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
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"I don't know what to say, we just keep finding a way to get into this game and give ourselves an opportunity," Becker said.
And it started with the 6-foot-8, 210-pound Ayo-Faleye, who also garnered eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 28-plus minutes. The second-year transfer from Rhode Island used his length and athleticism to stymie Daniels, who shot 6 of 18 from field with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Daniels entered Tuesday averaging 19.6 points a game and making over 46% of his field-goal attempts.
"Taking that matchup personally and knowing that defensively that I can be an X-factor," said Ayo-Faleye, named to the America East all-defensive squad last week .
On the other end, Ayo-Faleye sank a pair of 3s — the latter to stretch the advantage to 17 points in the 15-minute mark of the second half — and also threw down a pair of two-handed dunks that should've served as capstones down the stretch before UVM's sloppy, error-ridden conclusion.
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"Ileri is great. That's something we've been working on all year," Vermont guard Shamir Bogues said of Ayo-Faleye's outside shooting. "It's great to see him shine in these big moments like that. Credit to him."
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Ahead 31-24 at the break, Vermont opened the second half with a 14-4 run jumpstarted by Bogues' don't-blink, end-to-end layup and capped by Ayo-Faleye's catch-and-shoot triple on the wing for a 45-28 advantage with 14:35 left in regulation.
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Later in the half, UNH uncorked a 9-0 spurt to draw to within seven points, 48-41, following Daniels' Euro-step finish in the paint.
Vermont's Nick Fiorillo (13 points, five rebounds, four assists) answered with his third 3-pointer, and TJ Long pushed the advantage to 13 points, at 54-41, with his own trey with 6:48 to go.
After Ahmad Robinson (16 points, eight assists) knocked down a pair of foul shots, Ayo-Faleye rose for a two-handed stuff on a Bogues handoff. Then after a mini 4-0 spurt from the Wildcats, Ayo-Faleye drove from the baseline and into the paint, and pulled up to get a jumper to fall to return Vermont's margin to double digits at 58-47.
"That was huge," Becker said of Ayo-Faleye's jump shot.
UVM's Ileri Ayo-Faleye fires from three point territory during the Catamounts' 66-59 win over the New Hampshire Wildcats in an America East semifinal matchup on Tuesday evening at Patrick Gym
Ayo-Faleye lifted Vermont back to another 11-point lead, 60-49, with his second rim-rocker off a Long feed with 2:05 on the clock.
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But Vermont started to look shaky against UNH's press and Aaron Deloney and Bogues each missed the front ends of 1-on-1s. During the stretch, Jaxson Baker, who led UNH with 21 points, drilled a pair of 3s, the second trey making it a 61-57 game with 57 seconds left.
Fiorillo completed a long, baseball outlet to Long for a layup to give UVM breathing room at 63-57. Ahead 64-59 following Bogues' foul shot and Baker's two free throws, Fiorillo's errant pass at mid-court set up Daniels for a wide-open transition 3-pointer.
The long-range effort would've cut UVM's lead to two with less than 25 seconds to go, but Daniels' attempt was too strong. From there, Ayo-Faleye closed it out with two foul shots.
"A lot of times when you are playing these close games, they can go either way," Ayo-Faleye said. "A lot of teams end up bending and breaking and we don't fold. When the moment gets tougher, things get harder we stick together and come even close together.
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"That's the testament to the guys and culture that we have in this program."
Bogues finished with 11 points and four steals, Deloney added eight points, five boards, four assists and no turnovers in 35 minutes and Long collected nine points, four boards, two assists and four steals in 36 minutes.
"We've been through way worse situations earlier in the season," Bogues said. "Our main message was to stay together and that's what we did and we pulled it out."
Vermont's defense held UNH to 35.6% shooting and scored 16 points off 15 Wildcat turnovers. The visitors also made just 4 of 28 of their 3-point field goals in their 26th straight defeat in Burlington.
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"We gutted it out and I thought our defense was really good all night," Becker said.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com . Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5 .
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont men's basketball tops UNH in America East semifinals
