ESPN Men's Basketball

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Clancy Rugg scored a career-high 19 points with nine rebounds and four steals as Vermont led wire-to-wire in a 68-53 win Saturday over Maryland-Baltimore County in America East Conference action.

Coming off a 63-53 loss at Boston University in which they shot just 27.3 percent (15 of 55), the Catamounts (10-6, 3-1) started in the same groove, shooting 29.2 percent (7 of 24), but improved to 57.7 percent in the second half (15 of 26).

The Retrievers (3-14, 1-3), who trailed 27-21 at intermission after shooting 27.3 percent (6 of 22), closed to 29-27 with 18:23 left, but could get no closer and Vermont pulled away.

Ethan O'Day added 12 points and Sandro Carissimo 11 for the Catamounts, who have won 10 straight in the series.

Chase Plummer's 17 points, including 9-of-12 free-throw shooting, led UMBC, whose previous contest, a 68-57 win over New Hampshire, had snapped an eight-game skid.