THE BASICS:
 
RESULT: Vermont 76, Hartford 53
RECORDS: Hartford (11-10, 4-3 AE); Vermont (16-5, 6-0 AE)
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
PHOTO GALLERY
 
THE LEAD:
 
First-place Vermont jumped out to an early lead and never looked back on Sunday, defeating the University of Hartford men's basketball team, 76-53. Payton Henson led all scorers with 18 points and Trae Bell-Haynes added 17 for the Catamounts, who remain undefeated in America East action at 6-0.
 
Junior J.R. Lynch was the lone Hawk to register double figures with 10 points. Senior Hassan Attia and junior transfer Travis Weatherington added eight points apiece, while junior George Blagojevic grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds to go along with six points for Hartford in the losing effort.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• Plagued by a cold start from the field and a plethora of early fouls, the Hawks conceded an 18-3 run to open the game. With its lone points coming on a three-point play by Lynch, Hartford's early fouls allowed Vermont to score nine-straight points from the free-throw line during that stretch.
• The Hawks came alive and mounted a run, though. Scoring nine of the game's next 12 points, they closed the gap to nine (21-12). Junior Andrew Ramirez contributed five-straight points to that spurt, which was capped by a pair of Weatherington free throws with 9:09 to go.
• The two sides exchanged buckets for the remainder of the half, but back-to-back Bell-Haynes layups gave the Catamounts a 13-point edge at the break.
• In the opening minutes of the second, Vermont pushed the lead to 22 at 51-29 on a 13-2 run that included 10-straight points. The Catamounts, who led by as many as 31 with 5:05 left, shot 54.4 percent (12-of-22) in the second half to put the game out of reach.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE & NOTES:

• The Catamounts outscored the Hawks from the free-throw line, going 22-of-32 (68.8%) to Hartford's perfect 7-for-7 effort.
• Vermont also had the edge on the boards, 34-27.
• Ramirez (3-of-4 FG) finished with seven points for the Hawks.
• The Catamounts own the longest regular-season conference winning streak in the history of America East at 27-straight games.

 
NEXT ON TAP:
Hartford looks to complete the series sweep of UMass Lowell when it returns to action from a bye week on Saturday, Jan. 27. Tipoff from the Tsongas Center is set for 5 p.m.