ORONO, Maine — Even without starting guard, captain, leading scorer and America East All-Conference player Mike Trimboli, the Vermont Catamounts won their fifth straight against the University of Maine in record-setting fashion.
The Catamounts won a share of the AE regular-season championship and broke the school record for points scored in a season with a 93-81 victory at Alfond Arena Sunday afternoon.
Trimboli, who stayed home with an undisclosed illness he came down with Friday night, averages 16.3 points and 4.9 assists a game, but the Catamounts didn’t show any ill effects in his absence as they shot 45.7 percent from the field and outrebounded Maine 49-29.
“I didn’t think it affected them at all,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward, whose 9-20 Black Bears next play in the AE preliminary tourney game Friday night in Albany, N.Y. “I certainly have a lot of respect for him [Trimboli], but they haven’t done what they’ve done running their offense through one or two players.
“You can’t give up 22 offensive rebounds to a team of Vermont’s caliber and expect to win.”
Marqus Blakely led the assault on the glass by grabbing nine of his game-high 13 rebounds in the second half en route to his 11th double-double of the year. The 6-foot-6 junior forward and 2008 AE Player of the Year also scored 19 points.
“You have to keep a body on him the entire game, but in the second half we let him get away with some things and he got good looks,” said Maine sophomore forward Sean McNally of Gardiner.
Blakely also had five assists, two blocks and a steal.
“He picked up our intensity and did a much better job getting to the free-throw line in the second half,” said Vermont coach Mike Lonergan.
Senior forward Colin McIntosh formed the other half of Vermont’s 1-2 inside punch with 23 points (15 in the first half) and six rebounds.
Starting guard Nick Vier and reserve guard Maurice Joseph teamed up to try to fill Trimboli’s void and scored 16 points apiece. Vier also shadowed Maine’s Mark Socoby and limited him to three points.
“We keyed on Socoby and Nick did a great job on him,” said Lonergan. “We started out in zone with a big lineup, but that didn’t work too well. After that, we did a good job getting out on them and our press helped quicken the game pace.”
The Catamounts were leading by just two points (56-54) with 13 minutes left, but Blakely and Vier combined to score 10 points and fuel a game-changing 14-3 run over the next four minutes. The Catamounts would not lead by less than nine the rest of the way.
McNally led the Bears with 24 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
“McNally killed us, especially on the boards in the first half,” said Lonergan.
Sophomore forward Troy Barnies of Auburn had 19 points, senior guard Kaimondre Owes had 18, and junior guard Junior Bernal added 12 to go with a game-high six assists.
Maine committed just 11 turnovers to 14 by Vermont, but Vermont had the edge in points in the paint (40-34) and in bench scoring (26-5).
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