| Follow @UVMmbb
LOS ANGELES – The Vermont men's basketball team rallied to cut a 19-point deficit to four, but the comeback bid fell short as the Catamounts dropped a 64-56 decision at USC in non-conference action at the Galen Center on Tuesday night. USC moved to 8-4 overall, while Vermont fell to 5-7 on the season.
Sophomore
Kurt Steidl led all scorers with 18 points, which included four 3-pointers and matched his season high and was one off his career-high, to lead Vermont.
Ethan O'Day added 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
Strahinja Gavrilovic led the Trojans with 15 points, while Nikola Jovanovic and Katin Reinhardt chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively. Jovanovic also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for USC.
RELATED LINKS
Box Score (.pdf)CatamounTV Highlights
Photo Gallery Back-to-back dunks by O'Day sliced the USC lead to four, 21-17, at the 7:55 mark of the first half. The Trojans closed out the first 20 minutes with a 14-4 run to open up a 19-point advantage and went to the locker room up 43-26.
USC led 54-36 at the 14:02 mark of the second half, but the Catamounts mounted a comeback attempt. UVM scored 12 straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from
Brandon Hatton, to slice the lead to six with 9:50 remaining. The Trojans pushed their lead back to nine at the 7:09 mark, but UVM climbed back within four on a put back basket by
Hector Harold off a missed free throw with just 2:11 left in the contest.
The Trojans made two layups in the final 1:27 to hold off Vermont and secure their sixth win in seven games.
Vermont continues its California trip and faces UC Santa Barbara on Friday (Jan. 2). Tipoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. (EST). The game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online:
1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell calling the action. The game is also scheduled to be streamed online at
BigWest.org/tv.
NOTES: Vermont closes the 2014 calendar year with a record of 22-10 … The game was a homecoming for senior
Hector Harold, a Pasadena native … He returned to the court after missing the last three games with a foot injury and grabbed nine rebounds, while chipping in four points in 22 minutes … Vermont has lost three straight games by a total of 12 points.