The 2013 America East tournament kicked off the first round on Saturday. All eight teams squared off in the quarterfinals, but only one will be cutting down the nets and taking the automatic NCAA bid on March 16. Let's break down Saturday's action:
No. 1 Stony Brook Seawolves 72, No. 8 Binghamton Bearcats 49
Binghamton finished 3-27 in the regular season, and they had no real prayer here. Stony Brook, the favorites to win it all, jumped out to a 37-14 halftime lead and never looked back. Four players scored more than 10 points, with Anthony Jackson leading the way with 16. The Seawolves take on Albany in the semifinals Sunday.
No. 2 Vermont Catamounts 61, No. 7 New Hampshire Wildcats 42
Another game that wasn't all that close. Vermont actually trailed at halftime, 26-20, but a 27-3 run quickly put away any thoughts of an upset. Candon Rusin paced the team with 14 points, and Brian Voelkel led with seven rebounds. The Catamounts will face UMBC on Sunday.
No. 6 UMBC Retrievers 69, No. 3 Hartford Hawks 62
The 8-22 Retrievers pulled off an impressive upset thanks to a barrage of threes. UMBC scored 9 of 17 from beyond the arc and shot 54.5 percent from the field. Ryan Cook scored 24 points and Brian Neller chipped in with 20. The Retrievers will face Vermont on Saturday.
No. 4 Albany Great Danes 50, No. 5 Maine Black Bears 49
Maine actually led for the majority of this game, but a 12-3 Albany run tied it up with 2:34 left in the game. Sam Rowley was the hero here, scoring eight points in the final 2 1/2 minutes, including the game-winning layup with 19 seconds to go. Rowley finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. The Danes were able to overcome a poor shooting night (34 percent of field goals went in) and will be facing Stony Brook on Sunday.