ESPN will be making its way back to Patrick Gym on Saturday, March 10.

After winning their America East quarterfinal and semifinal games this weekend at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, the men’s basketball team will host the Uni-versity of Albany in the conference cham-pionship game.

The #1-seed in the conference tournament, the Catamounts advanced to the final game by knocking off #8 Hartford, 81-62, on Saturday and #5 UMBC, 72-63 on Sunday.

Coming into the weekend Vermont was arguably one of the hottest teams in the country, and coming out of it, their claim seems to be on an even more solid foundation.

On Friday, the Catamounts garnered extensive America East honors. Head coach Mike Lonergan was named Coach of the Year, while sophomore Mike Trimboli and senior Chris Holm were named to the All Conference First Team. Senior Martin Klimes received third team honors and freshman Joe Trapani was named to the all rookie team.

Game 1 – UVM vs. Hartford

After winning the first game of what head coach Mike Lonergan called “a two game tournament,” the top seed Vermont Catamounts now find themselves halfway to the prize: one more game in Patrick Gym, with NCAA tournament hopes on the line.

Saturday’s 81-62 win over the #8-seed Hartford Hawks puts Vermont (24-7, 16-1 America East) in the conference semifinals for the sixth straight year and increases their current winning to 12 games.

Once again, it was all about rebounding for the Cata-mounts as they out rebounded the Hawks 47-23, with UVM senior Chris Holm pulling down 15 of his own.

“Rebounding starts with Chris, and he had 11 at the half – Colin [McIntosh] had 10 – we just did a tremendous job today,” Lonergan said. “I give Colin credit – he had a mon-ster game, not just points, but rebounds and follow-ups.”

McIntosh did a tremendous job coming off of the bench against Hartford, scoring 17 points, and was one of four Catamounts to score in double figures.

Sophomore guard Mike Trimboli scored 21 points, going 5-6 from behind the 3-point arc, while freshman Marqus Blakely scored 14 points and Holm added 12.

The Catamounts came out firing on all cylinders against the Hawks, who came from behind to win Friday night against Stony Brook in the tournament’s opening game. The fact that it was their second game in as many days was something Vermont was aiming to capitalize on from the get-go.

“We wanted to come out and attack right away,” Trimboli said. “They played last night, so we knew they’d be tired.”

The Cats played to their strengths, depth and size, early in the game and if not for the services of senior forward Bo Taylor, the Hawks’ goose may have been cooked before the game hit the 10 minute mark.

Taylor scored nine of the Hawks first 11 points, finishing with a game high 23.

Trying to stay with Vermont who can go 10 to 11 deep into the roster on any night the Hawks employed a zone defense in the first half and ended the half trailing 34-20.

Switching to a full court press early in the second half, Hartford managed to stay within 10 points of the lead with just over 11 minutes left, but the Cats’ maintained their superb perimeter defense and rebounding advantage, as well as the ace-in-the-hole, Trimboli.

Trimboli, the America East Fans’ Choice Player of the Year, chipped in 11 points in the second half, but it was his decision making and game management that helped to al-low Vermont to pull away for good with a 15-3 run starting at the seven minute mark.

“I thought Mike [Trimboli] made a lot of good decisions in the second half,” Lonergan said.

Jaret Von Rosenberg scored 13 points and Joe Zeglinski added 12 for Hartford, who finished their season with a 13-18 record.

Game 2 – UVM vs. UMBC

UMBC wouldn’t go down not without a fight but Vermont was up to the task.

Led by the heady backcourt duo of sophomore Mike Trimboli and junior Kyle Cieplicki, as well as a commanding performance from senior forward Chris Holm, the Catamounts managed to fend off the Retrievers, 72-63, in Sunday’s America East semifinal.

In doing so, Vermont (25-6, 17-1) secured their fifth straight trip to the conference final, one shy of the confer-ence record held by Boston University and Drexel. The Catamounts will face Albany this Saturday the second straight time the two squads have met in the championship game.

The Catamounts 13 straight win tied a UVM single-season record (25) and was their 20 in their last 21 games. Trimboli led the Cats with 20 points and six assists, while Holm scored 18 and dominated the glass with 15 boards for the third straight game.

However, it was Cieplicki’s play (12 points) on both ends that proved to be crucial, and only cemented his role as the “glue guy” on the squad – hitting key shots and once again shutting down the opponent’s best player.

Like the recipe for many of those previous victories, the many of the ingredients were the same: rebounding supremacy, solid defense and timely scoring.

For much of the first half, two of the three ingredients were in short supply.

UMBC came out red-hot from 3-point land, going 5-8, a far cry from the Cats’ perfor-mance a day earlier when they held Hartford to a meager 1-16.

“Our game plan was to limit their threes and we didn’t get off to a good start,” Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan said.

The Retrievers’ hot hands, combined with several Vermont misses from close range, helped them to a 29-28 lead with two minutes to play in the first half right when the Vermont emerged from the doldrums.

“When stuff doesn’t go down you can’t let it get to you,” Holm said. “We couldn’t focus on the bad things.”

After going scoreless for six minutes, the Catamounts finished the last two minutes of the half with a 7-0 flurry, which included a free throw by Holm and threes by both Cieplicki and Trimboli.

Trimboli’s three sent his team into halftime with an exclamation point, draining a deep 3 pointer off the glass as the buzzer sounded to give UVM a 35-29 lead.

“We were fortunate to get those two threes in the last minute,” Cieplicki said. “That was big.”

The Catamounts carried that momentum into the sec-ond half, but UMBC wasn’t ready to pack it in.

UMBC senior forward Mike Housman kept the Retrievers’ hopes alive with 16 second half points and helped bring them within three points, 58-55, with 4:38 to play. That was as close as they would get to the title game.

Cieplicki, Trimboli and Holm combined for 10 of the Catamounts’ last 12 points, controlling the flow of the game on both ends, and displaying a level of maturity that didn’t exist last year; A level of maturity that is evident in their 13 straight wins.

“I’ve never had a team so mature in my 14 years as a head coach,” Lonergan said. “I’m very happy for our play-ers because they earned it. It’s about our team right now.”

Saturday’s contest against Albany (and reigning two-time America East Player of the Year Jamar Wilson) will be aired on ESPN2 at 12 p.m.