BURLINGTON, Vt. – League-leading Vermont (19-4, 11-0 America East) opened up a 15-point halftime lead and defeated visiting Binghamton (10-11, 7-5 AE) 82-51 in a battle of the top two teams in the conference Wednesday night at Patrick Gym.

The unbeaten, five-time reigning regular season champion Catamounts extended their record to 80-9 against America East opponents over the last six years.

"We weren't getting back in transition and they were getting easy baskets," head coach Levell Sanders said. "Offensively early on we missed shots and also passed up open shots. Our defense couldn't get stops. Vermont has a complete team and that's what we are trying to get to. This was a good test for us and shows that we have to keep working. We are playing meaningful games from here on out and have to be locked in."

Junior guard Jacob Falko led Binghamton with 14 points. He added three assists and three steals in just 27 minutes of action.

The Bearcats misfired on 16-of-20 to start the game and Vermont used a 15-2 run spanning 6+ minutes to take control. Falko had nine points in the first half but BU hit just 1-of-11 from 3-point range and dug themselves a 35-20 halftime hole. It was a season-low halftime total for the Bearcats.

Junior Tyler Bertram hit a pair of 3s and Falko added another to start the second half and BU cut its deficit to 11, 40-29 just 1:31 into the period. But Vermont responded with a 13-0 to extend its lead to 24 and BU couldn't pull it back inside 20 the rest of the way.  

Binghamton returns home to host New Hampshire at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Events Center.