Vermont basketball eked out a crucial America East Conference road victory on Saturday night.

And Vermont leading scorer TJ Hurley was a big reason why.

Hurley broke a tie late in regulation with a 3-pointer and then made a pair of foul shots in the last 20 seconds — a reprieve following back-to-back Albany miscues — as the Catamounts earned a 68-62 league victory over the host Great Danes at Broadview Center.

Hurley, who finished with 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting, knocked down his game-breaking triple with 3:46 to play, giving the Catamounts (13-11, 6-3) a 60-57 advantage.

Ileri Ayo-Faleye followed two minutes later with a soaring, two-handed dunk for a 62-58 margin. At the line with 22 seconds to play and ahead 64-60, Hurley missed the front end of a 1-on-1, but Albany failed to box out the shooter and Hurley grabbed the offensive rebound. Fouled on the play, Hurley, a career 90% free-throw shooter, missed again but an Albany player was called for a lane violation.

More: Big fourth quarter lifts Vermont women’s basketball past Albany in America East showdown

Hurley sank both free throws with 20 seconds on the clock for a 66-60 lead. He added two more from the line in the final second to close out the win and push Vermont’s head-to-head series advantage to 42-15 over Albany.

Nick Fiorillo (17 points) and Bogues (15) also reached double figures for Vermont. Ayo-Faleye totaled nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Catamounts held edges on the glass (38-27) and points in the paint (32-22). Vermont, which sits in third place in league standings, hosts New Hampshire on Thursday.

Vermont men’s hockey stun No. 9 UMass Lowell

Three goals in the span of 95 seconds at the start of the second period powered the Vermont men’s hockey team to a 5-3 win over No. 9 UMass Lowell on Friday.

Joel Maatta’s power play goal at 3:15 ignited the surge for Vermont in the second period. Xavier Henry and Jens Richards also scored during the blitz.

After Lowell cut the deficit to one later in the frame, Timofei Spitserov tallied for a 4-2 Vermont lead. Lowell again made it a one-goal game in the third before Spitserov’s empty-netter with 1:39 to go sealed the Vermont win.

Axel Mangbo made 29 saves for Vermont (10-13-3, 5-9-2). Lowell drops to 14-9-2, 7-7-2.

Friday’s win was Vermont’s fifth this season over the current top-16 in Pairwise. It was also the Catamounts’ first victory at the Tsongas Center since 2014.

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.