BURLINGTON, Vt. – Top-seeded Vermont (26-5) built a 12-point halftime lead and went on to a 74-42 win over sixth-seeded Binghamton (12-16) in an America East men's basketball semifinal Wednesday night at Patrick Gymnasium. 
 

The Catamounts, unbeaten at home this season and No. 60 in the country (NET), received 42 combined points from first team all-conference players Ryan Davis and Ben Shungu. 
 

Binghamton trimmed its deficit to eight, 39-31, one minute into the second half. But the Catamounts responded with a 17-3 run to pull away.
 

"I thought we did a good job of coming in here and trying to fight but they are an experienced team and they took advantage of every mistake we made," head coach Levell Sanders said. "When you give a good offensive team like Vermont easy baskets and open 3s, it's hard to beat them. They did a good job of harassing us and that's how they play. Hats off to them. We still have a lot of work to do."  
 

Junior guard Jacob Falko led the Bearcats with 13 points. Sophomore guard John McGriff and junior forward Christian Hinckson added seven points apiece.
 

The Bearcats were within a point, 14-13, eight minutes into the game before the Catamounts used an 18-4 run spanning 6+ minutes to break away. Vermont was shooting at a 60 percent clip for much of the half and extended its lead to as many as 17 points before the Bearcats brought it back to 12, 39-27 at half.    
 

The loss concludes a Bearcats season that featured its most conference wins in 12 years (8), an upset road win in the quarterfinals and a second trip to the semifinals in the last four years. All for a team that was picked to finish last in the 10-team standings.