BANGOR — Kurt Steidl had a season-high 20 points and Trae Bell-Haynes added 15 points Thursday night as Vermont beat Maine 90-77 in an America East men’s basketball opener at the Cross Insurance Center.
Anthony Lamb scored 15 points and Darren Payen had 12 for the Catamounts (11-5).
Ernie Duncan hit a 3 to break a 68-all tie and then, after a steal, Bell-Haynes made a layup to make it 73-68 with 4:53 to play. Maine (4-12) pulled within three on three occasions, but got no closer.
A 3-pointer by Wes Myers pulled the Black Bears to 80-77 with 2:24 remaining, but they missed their last five shots and Vermont closed the game on a 10-0 run.
Myers scored 30 points, one shy of his career high.
Steidl, who has 1,013 career points, became Vermont’s 35th 1,000-point scorer.
ROGER WILLIAMS 70, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 63: Nick Mariani sank five free throws in the final 1:39 as the Hawks (9-2, 3-1 Commonwealth Coast) held off the Nor’easters (4-7, 2-2) at Bristol, Rhode Island.
Marini finished with 17 points, Andrew Wasik added 15 and Conor O’Brien 11 for Roger Williams. Jean-Luc Parker and Sam Thomas each scored 13, Gavin Dibble added 12 and C.J. Autry 11 for UNE.
(20) PURDUE 76, OHIO STATE 75: Caleb Swanigan hit a free throw with five seconds left and Purdue (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten) held off a comeback by Ohio State (10-5, 0-2) at Columbus, Ohio.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
ST. JOSEPH’S 71, REGIS 57: Abbie Eastman hit a 3-pointer and a 2-pointer as the Monks (8-2) scored 10 consecutive points to open a 64-49 lead against Regis (4-5) with 1:45 left at Standish.
Hannah Marks also drained a 3 and Emily Benway had a layup during the run.
Kelsi McNamara led St. Joseph’s with 19 points. Eastman finished with 18 and Benway 16. Brittany Stone scored 21 points for the Pride.
ROGER WILLIAMS 58, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 51: Bridget Quilty hit two free throws to break a 47-all tie as the Hawks (7-4, 5-0 Commonwealth Coast) went on an 11-4 run over the final three minutes to beat UNE (6-5, 3-2) at Bristol, Rhode Island.
Quilty sank four more free throws to up the lead to 53-48 before Sadie Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining. Anna Walther answered with a 3-pointer for Roger Williams with 12 seconds left.
Walther finished with 20 points, Quilty 17 and Mariah Nicholas 10 for the Hawks.
Alicia Brown led UNE with 21.
(4) MISSISSIPPI STATE 59, ARKANSAS 51: Chinwe Okorie had 14 points and a career-best 15 rebounds as Mississippi State (16-2, 2-0 Southeastern) led throughout and defeated Arkansas (11-4, 0-2) at Fayetteville, Arkansas.
(5) SOUTH CAROLINA 73, AUBURN 47: Kaela Davis scored all 21 of her points in the first half as visiting South Carolina (12-1, 2-0 Southeastern) defeated Auburn (11-5, 1-1).
(6) FLORIDA STATE 90, NORTH CAROLINA 77: Imani Wright scored 22 points to help Florida State (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast)beat North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
(7) NOTRE DAME 92, WAKE FOREST 77: Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 points to help Notre Dame (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) defeat Wake Forest (9-5, 0-1) at South Bend, Indiana.
(8) LOUISVILLE 86, VIRGINIA 81: Myisha Hines-Allen had career highs of 31 points and 17 rebounds, and scored four points in overtime, lifting Louisville (14-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) over Virginia (11-4, 0-2) at Charlottesville, Virginia.
(13) DUKE 75, GEORGIA TECH 68: Lexie Brown scored 25 points, Rebecca Greenwell added 17 and Duke (14-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated Georgia Tech (11-4, 0-2) at Atlanta for its 10th straight win.
(14) MIAMI 67, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 64: Keyona Hayes had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Adrienne Motley had 16 points to eclipse 1,600 for her career and Miami (13-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) held off North Carolina State (12-4, 2-1) at Raleigh, North Carolina.
(24) KENTUCKY 64, MISSOURI 62: Makayla Epps scored 17 points, Evelyn Akhator had 14 and Kentucky (10-5, 1-1 Southeastern) held off a late charge by Missouri (11-5, 1-1) at Lexington, Kentucky.
FOOTBALL
OKLAHOMA: Joe Mixon, the running back who was suspended for the 2014 season after punching a woman in the face, will enter the NFL draft.
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