The Boston University Terriers and the University of Vermont Catamounts will battle for the America East basketball crown at noon this Saturday, March 13, at Vermont’s Patrick Gymnasium. To get there, both teams ran through the opposition this past weekend at the America East tournament, hosted by Hartford University.

In its quarterfinal matchup, fourth-seeded Boston peppered fifth-seeded Hartford with a long-range assault, hitting 14 of 26 3-pointers, en route to an 87-46 victory. The 14 makes from 3-point range tied the conference tournament record.

“You look like a genius when you make shots,” Boston head coach Pat Chambers said. “That was the bottom line today — we made shots. It’s kind of deflating sometimes when you’re making 14 threes. I’ve been on the other end of that.”

Sophomore forward Jake O’Brien led the way with 28 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, and senior guard Corey Lowe dropped 26 points in just 28 minutes, knocking down seven of nine shots from downtown.

“Today was just my day to hit shots,” Lowe said.

The Hawks only managed to shoot a little over 29 percent from the field as the Terriers frustrated the Hawks on defense and dominated the glass, 50-29.

“Guys are understanding their roles,” Chambers said. “I think they’re understanding the defense better, the rotations better. People say defense wins championships.”

Joe Zeglinski scored 11 points for Hartford, but the dead-eye shooter was kept in check all night.

Boston went on to face the top-seeded Stony Brook Seawolves, who boasted a conference-best 22-8 regular season record. Stony Brook defeated eighth-seeded University at Albany in its quarterfinal matchup 68-59, taking an early 16-point lead and never looking back. Senior guard Muhammad El-Amin, the newly minted AE conference Player of the Year, shot only 5-of-16 and scored 12 points, but the Seawolves had five players score at least nine points, including forward Tommy Brenton, who scored 13 points and swiped a game-high 16 rebounds.

In the matchup between Boston and Stony Brook, the Seawolves rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit only to see their efforts fall short as the Terriers pulled away and won 70-63, advancing to the AE championship game. It was a tale of two halves as Boston shot 50 percent in the first half while holding Stony Brook to 31 percent. Stony Brook responded by shooting over 54 percent in the second half and holding Boston to under 33 percent. The difference in the game was the discrepancy in free throws and turnovers. Stony Brook gave the ball away 19 times to Boston’s 10 times. Boston also hit 12 of 17 free throws, while Stony Brook struggled, hitting only 10 of 21.

“It was an amazing game,” Chambers said. “It was a grind-it-out, defensive battle. Just two really great teams going at it.”

Lowe continued his hot shooting, leading the way with 24 points off the bench, including shooting 5-of-9 from behind the arc. He opened a 9-0 run late in the second half with a 3-pointer as Boston gained control. He also had five steals and played disruptive defense throughout the game. Senior guard Carlos Strong added 15 points and eight rebounds for Boston. El-Amin scored 20 points to lead Stony Brook, but committed a game-high eight turnovers while being hounded by Lowe and Strong.

“Carlos just uses his strength to kind of push him [El-Amin] off and be physical, and I was just trying to out-quick him to the spot,” Lowe said.

In the other bracket, second-seeded Vermont cruised to a 76-59 win over the seventh-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers. UMBC’s defense was no match for the No. 1 scoring offense in the conference as Vermont mercilessly attacked the offensive glass, accumulating 15 offensive boards. Senior forward and two-time AE conference Player of the Year Marqus Blakely dominated the paint on both ends of the floor, changing shots on defense and passing out of double teams to open things up for his teammates.

“Marqus just did a great job rebounding and all around put up huge numbers for us,” Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan said.

Blakely finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in just 28 minutes of action. Senior guard and team captain Maurice Joseph took advantage of the inside attention given to Blakely with 19 points, including 4-of-6 from downtown.

Vermont went on to face the winner of the matchup between third-seeded Maine and sixth-seeded New Hampshire. In the lone upset of the first round, New Hampshire defeated Maine 68-57 to advance to the semifinals. The Wildcat defense suffocated the offense of the Black Bears, holding them to less than 35 percent shooting. Junior guard Alvin Abreu and sophomore forward Brian Benson led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points each, and junior center Dane DiLiegro ripped down 11 rebounds to go along with his nine points. Junior forward Sean McNally led Maine with 16 points and 12 boards.

New Hampshire’s momentum from the upset came to a halt when it faced Vermont, however. The Catamounts, known mostly for their offense, thoroughly disrupted the Wildcat offense, forcing them into contested shots all game long en route to shooting less than 28 percent from the field. Sophomore guard Garvey Young scored 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, and junior guard Evan Fjeld notched 14 points and six rebounds to pick up the slack for Blakely and Joseph, who both struggled shooting the ball.

“I want to give UNH a lot of credit,” Lonergan said. “Some of our best scorers didn’t really score today. We had some other guys step it up. I’m happy for our players, especially our seniors.”

Blakely echoed the sentiments of his coach.

“They were being real physical down low,” Blakely said. “I always had confidence in all of my teammates. Having Evan going into the post and just taking over, and Garvey playing lockdown [defense] and hitting some shots. There’s nothing more that you can ask for.”

Boston and Vermont are scheduled to tangle for the AE crown this Saturday at noon. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

“It’s huge,” Blakely said. “[Boston] came out on top, and thank God for that. We’re going back to Patrick [Gymnasium].”

“This is where we wanted to be,” Fjeld said. “We wanted a chance to go to the NCAA tournament, and we’re right there. We’re one game away.”