FINAL SCORE: Vermont 94, Saint Michael's College 65
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont had four players record double figures in Saturday night's 94-65 win over crosstown Division II foe Saint Michael's College at Patrick Gym.
Ernie Duncan scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting and sank five shots from long range.
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The Catamounts shot 51.8% (29-of-56) from the floor and 40.0% (12-of-30) from beyond the arc in the win. Vermont's tenacious defense forced 18 turnovers and converted them into 24 points on the other end of the court.
Duncan added four assists and made 4-of-5 trips to the line in his 21-point outing.
Anthony Lamb had a productive night with 18 points and nearly recorded a double-double as the freshman grabbed a team-high eight rebounds off the glass.
Payton Henson and
Drew Urquhart contributed 10 points apiece.
Saint Michael's was led by a 13-point performance by Zaire Williams. The senior was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and made four attempts at the charity stripe. Eli DiGrande added 12 points and Colin Richey scored 11 points for the Purple Knights.
Duncan came off the bench for the Catamounts and provided an instant spark. With the Catamounts holding a slim 9-8 lead, Duncan scored 10 of the team's next 14 points. Later in the half, Lamb added 13 points to help Vermont build a 20-point lead with four minutes to go before the break. The duo combined to tally 28 of UVM's 48 points in the opening period.
The Purple Knights started to claw back into the game midway through the second half. St. Mike's scored five quick points but the Catamounts answered with back-to-back slams from Henson and
Kurt Steidl.
Trae Bell-Haynes joined the mix when Steidl stole away an errant pass. Steidl dished off to a sprinting Bell-Haynes for an easy fast break layup on the other end of the floor to cap off an 8-0 run.
After Saint Michael's made three free throws on its next two possessions, Vermont went on a 19-4 run in a 3:35 span to build a 32-point advantage, its largest lead of the night to put the game out of reach.
Vermont will get the regular season underway on Saturday (Nov. 12) at Quinnipiac. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. All UVM men's basketball games can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM and online at
1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call
. The game can be seen live for free in HD via
Quinnipiac All-Access.