America East Championship Recap
BURLINGTON, Vt. – It didn’t take long for things to get ugly in the 2005 America East championship game, in more ways than one. The scoreboard got that way as Vermont was hot right out of the gates and never challenged after the first couple of minutes in their 80-57 victory over Northeastern.
The win is the third straight America East championship for Vermont (24-6), making them the third school to accomplish the feat. It also marked the final game on the Burlington campus for head coach Tom Brennan, who announced in November that he is retiring after 19 seasons at the helm. In the final minutes, chants of “Thank you, Brennan” could be heard throughout the sold-out Patrick Gym. For good measure, similar chants for senior stars Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine were added in later, as well as associate coach Jesse Agel, then “Thank you, seniors”.
Before things got ugly on the scoreboard, they got ugly right on the hardwood. On Northeastern’s first possession of the game, there was a battle for a loose ball with several players going for it and trying to get a tie-up. Emotions ran high and players had to be restrained, and the officials went to the scorer’s table to review the play on the monitor. Nothing was called save for the jump ball, which gave Northeastern possession.
The first half was dominated by the Catamounts, who scored seven unanswered points twice in a 14-2 run as they opened up a 21-7 lead. Keying the run was sophomore forward Martin Klimes, who already had a career-high 15 points by halftime on 7-of-7 shooting from the field. Vermont shot nearly 62 percent from the field in the opening stanza, dominated the paint with a 20-11 rebounding edge and 26 points in the paint, and also scored 13 points off seven Northeastern turnovers. Northeastern’s shot selection didn’t help matters, though the Huskies came alive late in the first half to bring the deficit to 14 at the half.
The second half was all Coppenrath, as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player took over inside and even knocked in a couple of jumpers. He scored 25 of the team’s first 27 points and helped Vermont build the lead up to as high as 26. Meanwhile, the Huskies’ struggles continued as they shot below 29 percent for the half.
Vermont shot nearly 55 percent from the field and outrebounded the Huskies 41-28. They also kept Northeastern’s running attack on the ground, as the Huskies didn’t score a single fast break basket in the game.
As if things weren’t bad enough for Northeastern (21-9), Barea left the game with under 14 minutes left to play after landing on another player and turning his right ankle. He would return to the bench only to watch the continuing carnage. Barea led the Huskies with 14 points, but shot just 6-of-16 from the field.
Joining Coppenrath on the All-Tournament Team were teammates Klimes, T.J. Sorrentine and Germain Mopa Njila, as well as Barea.
Northeastern will get an invite to the NIT, a source familiar with the situation said after the game.
