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For the first time in any sport, the Vermont Catamounts take on the Western Carolina Catamounts in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night at Patrick Gym.
 
This is the second straight season, and second in program history, Patrick Gym has played host to a men's basketball national postseason game.
 
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be see via a free HD stream on AmericaEast.TV. Local radio coverage begins at 6:30 on ESPN 101.3 FM with AJ Kanell and Bernie Cieplicki on the call.
 
RELATED LINKS
Vermont Game Notes (.pdf)
Western Carolina Game Notes
Western Carolina Game Coverage: Live Video – Live Audio – Live Stats
Stony Brook Flashback: Game Recap – CatamounTV Highlights -- Postgame Reaction
 
Last Time Out at Stony Brook: Jameel Warney scored 43 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Stony Brook past Vermont in the America East Championship game Saturday morning on Long Island, 80-74. Trae Bell-Haynes scored a team-high 17 points to pace three Catamounts in double figures. Bell-Haynes also dished out four assists in the loss. Ernie Duncan scored 11 points and Cam Ward added 10 off the bench. Darren Payen and Drew Urquhart both finished with nine points. Warney and Carson Puriefoy combined for 66 of Stony Brook's 80 points as Puriefoy finished with 23 to complement Warney's 43. Only five players scored for the Seawolves and no other player had more than six points. Vermont had its way offensively to start the second half, extending its lead to 11 on a bucket from O'Day and then to 15 on an elbow jumper from Darren Payen. Bell-Hayes knocked down back-to-back threes with 12:26 to go to give the Cats a 14-point lead. But from there is was all Warney, who scored 10 of Stony Brook's final 16 points and sent his team dancing for the first time in program history.
 
About Western Carolina: Western Carolina comes into Wednesday's matchup in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational with a 16-17 record and most recently fell to Chattanooga in the Southern Conference semifinals, 73-69. The Catamounts have won eight of their last 10 contests, which is their best stretch since the end of the 2010-11 season. Senior forward Torrion Brummitt was named the SoCon's Player of the Month for February. He keyed a turnaround that saw WCU close the regular season with a 7-2 record by averaging 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Brummitt was joined by classmate Mike Brown on the SoCon All-Tournament team. Brown averaged 26.5 points over two games in the tournament and led the team in scoring during the regular season pumping in over 17 points per game.
 
Series History: This will be the first all-time meeting between UVM and WCU (in any sport) and just the third time in program history that Vermont will face a team from the Southern Conference.
 
Last Meeting vs. SoCon: Vermont's last meeting with a current member of the Southern Conference occurred nearly a quarter-century ago when the Catamounts defeated UNC-Greensboro, 86-71, on Dec, 7, 1992. Freshman Eddie Benton scored a game-high 34 points in 37 minutes of action, shooting 9-of-11 from the field including 4-of-5 from downtown. Brian Tarrant and Dave Ostrosky also reached double-figures in scoring in that game, going for 15 and 10, respectively. ** Note: Vermont played College of Charleston in the 2012-13 season when the Cougars were members of the SoCon. CofC is now part of the Colonial Athletic Association.
 
Postseason Notes: This is Vermont's 8th straight postseason appearance and 12th in the last 14 seasons (5 NCAA, 3 NIT, 4 CBI). The Catamounts have won at least one game in the CBI in two of its three prior appearances in the tourney. John Becker has the most postseason wins in program history (John Becker 3; Mike Lonergan 1; Tom Brennan 1).
 
Last Year in the CBI: Last season, the Catamounts advanced to the semifinals of the CBI before falling on the road at Louisiana-Monroe. Vermont picked up wins over Hofstra (85-81) and Radford (78-71) en route to the semifinals. Ethan O'Day averaged 16.3 points a 6.0 rebounds in those three games and shot a blistering 63.3% from the field.
 
Cats vs. Carolina: UVM is 4-10 all-time against schools based in North Carolina but 2-0 at Patrick Gym. Vermont has home wins over UNC Greensboro (1991-92) and UNC Wilmington (2008-09).
 
Playoff Defense: During the three America East Playoff games, Vermont held opponents to just 41.7% shooting on the defensive end while shooting 54 % offensively. In six halves of basketball, UVM opponents shot below 40% three times.
 
Home Sweet Home: Vermont is 12-3 at Patrick Gym this season and has won six straight in front of its home crowd. Seven players average more than eight points at Patrick Gym led by Kurt Steidl (13.0 ppg). The Catamounts are 7-0 against non-conference opponents at home this season.
 
Bench Boosters: Vermont's bench has been a key factor recently. The Cats have outscored their opponents 241-82 off the bench over the last eight games, which is a +19.9 points per game average. Vermont outscored Stony Brook in the title game 27-0. Cam Ward averaged 12.8 points per game off the bench in the during that stretch - one of three Catamounts to average more than seven points during the same span.
 
Cats on a Roll: Despite falling short in the America East title game, the Catamounts have still won seven of their last eight games and outscoring opponents by 13.5 points per game. Five different Catamounts are averaging double figures in scoring durin that stretch led by Ernie Duncan's 12.9 points per game.
 
Three's Company: Three Catamounts landed on the All-Conference Third Team following the regular season - Ethan O'Day, Kurt Steidl and Trae Bell-Haynes. O'Day earns in second all-conference selection while Bell-Haynes and Steidl - both all-rookie selections following their freshman seasons - earned all-league status for the first time.
 
Did it all for the Rookie: Averaging 15 points per game while shooting 55.6% from the field in two Vermont wins in the final week of the regular season, Ernie Duncan earned Rookie of the Week honors on Monday. He also was selected to the AE All-Rookie team.
 
Tickets for Wednesday's game are currently on sale and can be purchased in person at the Patrick Gym ticket office on online at UVMAthletics.com. President Sullivan has made the first 500 UVM student tickets free and those tickets Tickets are limited to one (1) ticket per UVM ID, students must present their own UVM ID at the ticket window, and no other ID's will be accepted.