Vermont faces UMBC in America East finals

No. 3 seed Maryland-Baltimore County (21-12, 13-5) vs. No. 1 seed Vermont (26-6, 16-2)

America East Conference Tourney Championship, Roy L Patrick Gymnasium, Burlington, Vermont; Saturday, 10 a.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Maryland-Baltimore County and Vermont are prepared to square off in the Championship of the America East tournament. Maryland-Baltimore County swept the two-game regular season series. The teams last faced each other on Feb. 21, when the Retrievers outshot Vermont from the field 45.5 percent to 36.2 percent and had seven fewer turnovers en route to a nine-point victory.

SENIOR STUDS: Vermont’s Anthony Lamb, Ernie Duncan and Everett Duncan have combined to account for 53 percent of the team’s scoring this season and have scored 54 percent of all Catamounts points over the last five games.

KEY FACILITATOR: Lamb has directly created 46 percent of all Vermont field goals over the last five games. The junior forward has 42 field goals and 17 assists in those games.

STREAK STATS: Vermont has won its last seven home games, scoring an average of 73.3 points while giving up 53.

ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Retrievers have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Catamounts. Vermont has 44 assists on 86 field goals (51.2 percent) across its previous three contests while Maryland-Baltimore County has assists on 37 of 72 field goals (51.4 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The Vermont defense has allowed only 63.1 points per game to opponents this season, ranking the Catamounts 15th among Division I teams. The Maryland-Baltimore County offense has averaged 68.1 points through 33 games (ranked 255th, nationally).