FINAL SCORE: Toledo 84, Vermont 72
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Toledo's (8-4) strong offense snapped the Vermont (6-8) winning streak, defeating the Catamounts 84-72 on Tuesday afternoon at Patrick Gym.
 
RELATED LINKS
CatamounTV Highlights
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Tough loss today against a really good Toledo team that played really well and you know were really hard to stop," Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker said. "I thought the second half we competed better and at times made it a game, but just couldn't string together enough stops. There was a couple of times that we did and we just couldn't capitalize by scoring on the other end so you have to credit them. Their two bigs, Milner and Shumate, were really tough and Ray J Dennis, a kid that I recruited out of high school is a terrific player. It was a little quiet, a little lack of energy I thought today by our group for whatever reason. But, you have to tip your hat to Toledo today."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Catamounts jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with Dylan Penn scoring Vermont's first four points in the opening minute. UVM maintained its lead over Toledo until JT Shumate sank a triple to tie the game at 6-6 with 17:03 left in the first half. The Rockets' lead would extend to four points, up 10-4, before the first media timeout.
• Vermont would counter with a 10-4 run to knot the game at 14-14 with 12:28 left in the frame.
• Toledo pulled away with a 12-0 run over a little more than three minutes to take a 26-14 lead with 8:58 remaining. Shumate had five points for the Rockets during the run.
• UVM would back to within single digits and remain there for the latter part of the first half, until a RayJ Dennis floater that put Toledo up 36-26 with 3:30 left on the clock. Dennis would give the Rockets their largest lead of the half with another floater in the final minute that put Toledo up 42-28 heading into the break.
• Kam Gibson opened the second half with a wide-open trey and sank a jumper on the following possession to kickstart the Vermont offense. Penn added a triple shortly after as the Catamounts pulled to within single digits, trailing 44-36 with 17:45 left.
• Toledo's lead would grow back to double digits on several occasions on makes from Shumate, Dante Maddox Jr., and Setric Millner Jr. The Rockets had an 11-point lead with 10:01 remaining, as the Catamounts trailed 68-57.
• Aaron Deloney sank a three-pointer with 9:13 remaining to pull back to within single digits, but Toledo responded with six straight points to take a 74-60 lead with 7:07 left on the clock. The Rockets would hold on to their double-digit lead over the Cats for the remainder of the afternoon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Four Catamounts reached double figures on the day, with Penn scoring a team-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The UVM guard made 2-of-5 attempts from long range and knocked down two free throws.
• Deloney chipped in 15 points off the bench, with an efficient 4-for-6 clip from beyond the arc. The senior was 5-for-10 from the field, and recorded one assist.
• Finn Sullivan and Robin Duncan rounded out the Catamounts in double figures with 10 points each. Duncan recorded team-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (4).

UP NEXT
Vermont closes out non-conference play against No. 22 Miami on Wednesday, Dec. 28 in Coral Gables, Fla. Tip-off against the nationally-ranked Hurricanes is slated for 8 p.m. ET at the Watsco Center, and will broadcast live on the ACC Network. Fans can listen to the action for free on the Vermont Sports Network, from Learfield on The Game, which will air on 97.1 FM in Burlington, 105.9 FM in Plattsburgh, and 960 AM around the rest of the region. The radio broadcast is also available via the Varsity Network App with Brian McLaughlin on the call.
 
McGee Automotive Group is the presenting sponsor of Vermont men's basketball