Vermont basketball nips UMass Lowell in final seconds on putback
· Yahoo Sports
Instincts took over for Vermont basketball's Noah Barnett in the final seconds against UMass Lowell: Crash the glass and good things can happen.
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Following TJ Hurley's missed layup, Barnett was there to clean up with the putback for the go-ahead bucket with 10 seconds to play as the Catamounts overcame their own miscues and poor shooting for a 66-64 America East Conference victory over the River Hawks in front of 2,496 at Patrick Gym on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Vermont (19-11, 11-4) sits a half-game in front of NJIT for second place in the league standings with its regular-season finale on tap vs. Albany on Tuesday, March, 3.
And thanks to the Barnett, the Catamounts kept their themselves in position to potentially host two playoff games.
"All my life I’ve been a really good offensive rebounder and a good rebounder in general," Barnett said. "(Assistant coach Braeden Estes) tells me to always assume the miss.
"God let that one land in my hands."
After Barnett's make, Vermont survived Lowell's last-gasp 3-point attempt as time expired. Had it dropped, the shot shouldn't have counted: A Lowell player lost control of the ball on a drive and stepped out of bounds on the end line before hurling a pass to Darrell Yepdo, who missed the triple prior to the buzzer.
Vermont won despite shooting 38.3% from the floor, losing the rebounding battle, 40-37, and getting just two points from TJ Long, who went 0 of 8 from the floor in 23-plus minutes.
"A lot just did not go right. We struggled to make 3s, struggled to make layups. But we hung in there and we fought and we got enough offense," Vermont coach John Becker said. "But we won and it’s always better to learn after wins. These last two wins feel like Vermont basketball even though you can argue they were pretty ugly."
Vermont players stormed the court. Several, including Gus Yalden and Ben Michaels, bodied Barnett to the floor in celebration.
"I’ve never felt anything like that. It felt surreal, honestly. I got pretty much tackled," Barnett said. "But it was fantastic, man, I love those guys. I wouldn’t want to be in it with anyone else."
Barnett's winner wrapped an eventful evening for the redshirt sophomore forward. He picked up a first-half technical following his tough, inside layup, and then drew his third foul early in the second stanza.
"It was a great, great huge play," Becker said of Barnett's winning tip-in. "You can see what he means to the team by the way the guys celebrated. He’s an awesome kid and a hard-working kid … he wants our team to be great."
Yalden (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Hurley (19 points) led Vermont in scoring and the team's late comeback. The Catamounts trailed 63-58 with 2:18 to go after back-to-back turnovers leading to Lowell layups, the latter on an inbounds pass.
"We tried to give the game away," Becker said. "It’s hard to imagine you can overcome that to win the game."
Then Hurley splashed a triple at the top of the key with the foul. Hurley, a 91.4% free-throw shooter this season, missed, but the Cats kept possession after Lowell tipped the loose ball out of bounds.
Vermont took advantage when a two-man game with Hurley and Yalden produced Yalden's pick-and-pop 3-pointer to complete a six-point offensive trip and 64-63 margin with 1:50 to play.
Lowell leveled the game on Angel Montas Jr.'s 1 of 2 effort at the line. After a missed Hurley 3 and a Lowell turnover, Barnett rose for his moment, delivering the Cats a much-needed victory.
"What this program is built on is toughness and finding a way even when it’s ugly," Barnett said.
For Lowell, Austin Green (16 points), Montas Jr. (15), Xavier Spencer (15) and Yepdo (11) reached double figures. The River Hawks fall to 13-16 overall and 8-6 in league play.
After the Albany game on March 3, Vermont will gear up for the America East playoffs, which start with the quarterfinal round on Saturday, March 7.
Contact Alex Abrami at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont basketball vs UMass Lowell final score in America East