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BALTIMORE – The Vermont men's basketball team remained unbeaten in America East using a strong second half effort to pull away from UMBC and post a 71-54 win at the RAC on Saturday. The Catamounts improve to 9-8 overall with their fourth straight victory and move to 4-0 on league play. UMBC falls to 2-15 on the year and 0-4 in the conference.
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Box Score (.pdf)Ethan O'Day led Catamounts with 15 points, on 7-for-9 shooting, and seven rebounds.
Brendan Kilpatrick added 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench and
Trae Bell-Haynes scored 10 points, all in the second half, while handing out six assists.
Wayne Sparrow paced the Retrievers with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds.
Vermont led 16-4 at the 11:56 mark of the first half, but UMBC answered with a 12-2 run to close within two with 8:11 remaining in the half. The Catamounts pushed back out in front by seven, 30-23, with 3:57 left, but the Retrievers made another run, but trailed 33-31 at the half.
The Catamounts held UMBC without a field goal for the first 9:13 of the second half and produced a 24-6 run to open up a double-digit lead on the Retrievers, 54-37, at the 8:53 mark of the second stanza. Vermont maintained its double-figure advantage the rest of the way.
UVM limited UMBC to 23.8 percent shooting in the second half after the Retrievers shot 46.2 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
Vermont hosts Binghamton on Monday (Jan. 19) at 7 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium. Tickets can be purchased online at
UVMathletics.com or in person one hour before game time in the Patrick Gymnasium Lobby.
Monday's game can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM (online:
1013ESPN.com) with A.J. Kanell calling the action. The game will also be streamed online for free in HD via
CatamounTV.com.