FINAL SCORE: Vermont 68, Concordia 56 | Box Score | Photos
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior
Evan Fjeld (Durham, N.C.) scored 18 points and added seven rebounds to lead the Vermont men's basketball team to a 68-56 win over Concordia from Montreal, Quebec in preseason action on Sunday afternoon at Patrick Gym. All seven newcomers saw action for the Cats, while 11 of the 13 players that dressed scored.
In his first game in a Catamount uniform, junior
Matt Glass (Underhill Center, Vt.) came off the bench and tallied 11 points and six rebounds, while sophomore
Brendan Bald (Millersville, Md.) added 11 as the duo combined to shoot 9-for-16 from the floor. Vermont used a 44-18 scoring edge in the paint and a 31-6 advantage in bench scoring.
Vermont took a 32-31 lead into the half, as all 13 Catamounts that dressed saw action in the opening 20 minutes of play. UVM led by as many as six in the opening stanza, as leading 16-15 Glass hit a three and Fjeld added a pair of free throws to extend Vermont's lead to 21-15 with 8:45 to go in the frame.
The Catamounts were on top 30-25 before Concordia netted six straight to take a one-point advantage, but Fjeld added a lay-up with 1:08 to go to send the home team into the locker room with the lead. Fjeld led the Cats at the break with eight points, while James Clark led all scorers with 14.
Vermont opened the second half by scoring eight straight to extend its lead to 40-31. After playing limited minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Bald led the way with four in the push. The Catamounts had trouble putting the Stingers away though, as Concordia benefitted from hitting seven of its first 10 attempts from three.
Vermont led 51-47 with 9:04 to go when it used a 7-1 run to extend its lead to 58-48, capped off by a Glass lay-up with 5:05 left.
“It was an ugly win today and we have to get a lot better defensively. I was happy to be able to get Evan a lot of touches, and I thought that
Brian Voelkel did a lot of nice things that don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet, but overall we just need to keep getting better,” said Vermont head coach
Mike Lonergan.
Catamount starters
Garrett Kissel (Springfield, Mass.) and freshman
Brian Voelkel (Pleasantville, N.Y.) each matched Fjeld by pulling down a team-high seven rebounds apiece, as Vermont held a 43-31 rebounding margin.
Clark finished with 18 points for Concordia, while Decee Krah added 17 as the Stingers shot only 34.6 percent from the floor in the second half and committed 20 turnovers in the game.
The Catamounts wrap up preseason action next Saturday when they host Saint Michael's starting at 1 p.m. in the first game of a UVM doubleheader. The women's team will follow against Franklin Pierce at 4:30 p.m. The men's game can be heard live on The Zone 960 AM and Champ 101.3 FM, and on the Internet at SportsJuice.com. Live video is available on a pay-per-view basis on
CatamounTV for both games.
Check out
www.UVMAthletics.com later today for game highlights and postgame interviews.