BURLINGTON, Vt. – Graduate student Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) registered 14 points, as the No. 2 UMass Lowell men's basketball team (26-8) fell, 72-59, at No. 1 Vermont (23-10) in the 2023 Jersey Mike's America East Playoffs championship game on Saturday.
 
It was an incredibly close battle the whole way and featured 15 lead changes between the league's top two teams. The Catamounts pulled ahead for the final time on a three by Aaron Deloney at 12:36 in the second, and although the River Hawks were still within a bucket at the nine-minute mark thanks to a trey from junior Yuri Covington (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), the home team used three jumpers from beyond the arc of their own down the stretch to secure the outcome.
 
The decision capped a historic run for the River Hawks, who were making their second America East title game appearance in three years.
 
"Credit to Vermont, they're a really good basketball team and they deserve to win our conference," said Head Coach Pat Duquette. "They were the most consistent during the season and they are really hard to beat on their home floor. I thought our guys competed and hung around for three-quarters of the game. Some things didn't go our way. It wasn't a good shooting night for us. I thought we had good, quality looks that we normally knock down. We didn't shoot a good percentage from three and we didn't shoot a good percentage from the free throw line. We missed too many opportunities against a really good, disciplined, tough Vermont team on their home floor."
 
Covington joined Blunt in double figures with 10 points in the outing. Sophomore Cam Morris III led the way on the glass with a game-high nine rebounds. As a team, the River Hawks outshot Vermont from the field, 44% to 38%, and forced 15 turnovers, while committing only seven.
 
Blunt drove to the hoop for the River Hawks' first bucket of the day and senior Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali) added back-to-back layups to put his side on top, 7-6, four minutes into play. The Catamounts responded with an early, 10-2 spurt to take the upper hand, but Morris snapped a four-minute scoring drought for the visitors when he fought his way to the hoop. That play sparked a run of nine straight River Hawk points that was capped off by a triple from the top of the key by Blunt to tilt the board in his team's favor once again at 18-16 with 6:41 remaining in the first half.
 
The Catamounts answered with a three of their own, but freshman Brayden O'Connor (Ottawa, Ontario) and Morris regained the momentum for their side before Hammond scored five in a row and Morris added another two to give the River Hawks their largest lead of the day, 29-21, at 1:21. UVM registered the final four points of the period, but UMass Lowell hung on to take the 29-25 edge into the break.
 
The teams came out of the locker room swinging with four lead changes in the first eight minutes. A layup from Morris ahead of a three from Hammond gave the River Hawks their final advantage of the afternoon, 37-35, with 13 minutes to go. Covington put the team within three down the stretch, but Vermont held on to take the title.
 
Hammond and Blunt were named to the America East All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the contest. The River Hawks will now see wait to see if their season continues with an invitation to another postseason tournament.