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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Ethan O'Day matched his career-high posting game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the Vermont Catamounts to their fifth straight win with a 74-51 victory over UMBC at Patrick Gymnasium in America East men's basketball action on Saturday.
Vermont maintains its hold on second place in America East with the victory and improves to 11-2 in conference play. The Catamounts move to 16-10 overall. UMBC falls to 3-22 on the year and 1-11 in league play.
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Photo Gallery O'Day was 9-for-12 from the field and added three blocks.
Dre Wills, who sparked a first half run for Vermont, added 10 points and four assists. Four other Catamounts chipped in at least eight points.
Cody Joyce and Brent Malcolm combined for 25 points off the bench to lead UMBC. Joyce netted 13 points, while Malcolm added 12 points and five rebounds.
Trailing by six at the 11:41 mark of the first half, Wills ignited a 15-6 run by the Catamounts to push them in front 28-23 with 4:56 remaining in the half. Wills scored nine of his 10 first half points in the spurt.
Vermont extended its lead to seven on a 3-pointer by
Kurt Steidl and went into the locker room up 38-32.
Steidl scored the first five points of the second half to push UVM's lead to 11, 43-32, and sparked a 19-5 run by the Catamounts to start the second stanza. Vermont opened up a 20-point advantage on the Retrievers and maintained the large lead the rest of the game.
Vermont shot 51 percent from the floor for the game and limited UMBC to eight field goals in the second half. UVM doubled up the Retrievers in the paint, out scoring them 40-20. The Catamounts also won the battle on the boards (35-28).
Vermont travels to Binghamton on Wednesday (Feb. 18) for a 7 p.m. game at the Events Center. The game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online:
1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell on the call. The game will also be streamed for free in HD via
AmericaEast.tv.