FINAL SCORE: Vermont 68, Mount St. Mary's 61 (OT) | Box Score | Postgame
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior
Evan Fjeld scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Vermont men's basketball team to a 68-61 overtime victory at home on Wednesday night over Mount St. Mary's in non-conference action. The Catamounts are a perfect 6-0 at home, as they improve to 9-3 overall on the year.
Fjeld was fouled with 25 seconds remaining in regulation and made only one of two to give Vermont a 52-50 lead. On the ensuing possession, Mount St. Mary's took the ball to the hoop and Danny Thompson was blocked by Fjeld on a drive, but Shawn Atupem grabbed the loss ball and put it back in with just over a second to go to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session the Catamounts scored 11 of the first 13 points to jump out to a 63-54 lead and sophomore
Simeon Marsalis hit four free throws down the stretch to help Vermont hold on for the win.
“It was a sloppy game, but I am very happy that we won,” said Vermont head coach
Mike Lonergan. “I am happy with that win because this is a team this year that I think we will have games like tonight that will be close, but as long as we can find a way to win I am not going to leave unhappy. I give Mount St. Mary's credit, they play hard and they did a good job battling on the boards with us.”
Mount St. Mary's (3-11) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead and was on top 14-8 with 11:09 to go in the first half. Vermont answered with the next six straight to knot the score at 14-14, as neither team would lead by more than three points for the remainder of the stanza. With the visitors on top 21-20, junior
Matt Glass grabbed an offensive rebound and finished off the layup with help the Catamounts take a 22-21 lead into the break.
Both teams struggled down the stretch of the first half, as there was a total of four points scored in the final 5:54 of play. Fjeld led all scorers at the break with 10 points, as UVM held the Mount to shoot only 30 percent.
Vermont came out hot in the second half, making seven of its first 11 attempts to take a 36-31 advantage. A layup by Mount St. Mary's Raven Barber with 3:26 remaining in the contest gave the visitors their last lead of the game at 46-45. Fjeld responded on the other end with a lay-in to help the Cats regain the lead on the next possession. A layup from senior
Joey Accaoui extended UVM's lead to 51-46 with 1:32 remaining, but the Mount would outscore the Cats 6-1 down the stretch.
With Vermont on top 57-54 with 2:25 left in overtime, a pair of hustle plays energized the crowd and put the game away for the Cats. Fjeld used a shot fake at the free throw line to get a defender in the air and then dribbled by for a two-handed dunk. As Mount St. Mary's tried to push the ball up, Marsalis stole the ball at midcourt and threw it ahead to Accaoui for the layup that made it 61-54.
Fjeld went 9-for-12 from the floor and added a pair of blocks, while Glass gave the Cats a boost off the bench with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Accaoui ended up with 10 points, including six in overtime, to wrap up the Catamounts in double figures. Freshman
Brian Voelkel recorded his seventh double-digit rebounding performance of the season as he pulled down 10 to go with a team-high four assists.
Vermont shot 49.1 percent from the floor for the game and made 16 of its last 27 shots (59.3 percent) overall on the night. The Cats also used a 41-34 rebounding advantage and 38-28 scoring edge in the paint. Mount St. Mary's was led by 13 points apiece from Julian Norfleet and Lamar Trice.
The Cats return to action on Tuesday as they open America East action on the road at Stony Brook starting at 7 p.m. The game can be heard live on Champ 101.3 FM, The Zone 960 AM and on the internet at www.UVMathletics.com with the audio stream provided by SportsJuice.com.
NOTES: UVM has won 16 straight against Northeast Conference teams and is 32-12 all-time against the league ... Vermont has now won 15 of its last 16 overall at Patrick Gym … Wednesday marked UVM's first overtime game of the season and first since it defeated New Hampshire 85-76 at home last season on February 14 … Vermont wraps up the 2010 calendar year with a 25-8 record … After making 15 of its last 30 3-point attempts, UVM went only 1-for-8 from long range on Wednesday … Fjeld has now topped 20 points five times this year … The Cats missed their first six free throw attempts of the night … Vermont won the first and only meeting prior to Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's last season, 71-69 on the road … Fjeld was named the America East Player of the Game … Check out
www.UVMAthletics.com later tonight for postgame and highlights.