The Maine men’s basketball team snapped a 30-game losing streak against Vermont to reach the America East championship game for the first time since 2004 with a 57-42 win on Tuesday night in Burlington, Vermont.

The third-seeded Black Bears improve to 20-13 overall and 11-7 in the conference. They will face the winner of Tuesday’s late game between No. 4 Albany and No. 1 Bryant for a trip to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament at 11 a.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

The Black Bears have never advanced to the NCAA tournament.

The second-seeded Catamounts, the three-time defending conference champions,  end the season 21-12, 13-4 in America East.

Maine had not beaten Vermont since a 71-68 victory on Jan. 22, 2013. The Catamounts beat the Black Bears twice in the regular season, 55-49 on Feb. 1 and 65-61 on Feb. 15.

Maine jumped to a 6-0 lead on a pair of basket by Kellen Tynes and a jumper by Jaden Clayton and never trailed. The Black Bears led by 13 on a jumper by Quion Burns with 5:44 left in the half, but the Catamounts went on a 9-4 run to pull within eight at the half.

Maine’s lead grew to 15 in the second half when Clayton made a layup with 5:49 left. Vermont never got closer than eight points and the Black Bears closed the game on an 8-4 run to secure the win.

Tynes, the three-time America East Defensive Player of the Year, had 13 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocks for Maine. Lopez added 12 points and Clayton had nine points, four rebounds and two steals.

Ileri Ayo-Faleye scored 14 points for Vermont. Sam Alamuta added eight points and 21 rebounds, and former Scarborough High star Nick Fiorillo had seven points.