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DURHAM, N.H. – The Vermont men's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the year with a 73-68 setback at New Hampshire in America East action at Lundholm Gymnasium on Thursday.
New Hampshire improves to 11-9 in America East and 4-3 on the year. The Wildcats snap a seven-game losing streak to the Catamounts picking up their first win over UVM since 2012. Vermont had its five-game win streak snapped and falls to 5-1 in the conference and 10-9 overall.
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Box Score (.pdf)
CatamounTV HighlightsMatt Miller led all scorers with 18 points and was one of five Wildcats to reach double figures in the scoring column. Miller was 4-for-5 from behind the arc and 7-for-9 from the floor. Tanner Leissner added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Dre Wills scored a career-high 17 points and added five rebounds to pace the Catamounts.
Trae Bell-Haynes chipped in 12 points.
Vermont used a 7-2 spurt, capped by a layup from
Brendan Kilpatrick to take 24-19 lead with 6:57 left in the first half, but UNH out scored the Catamounts 17-8 over the final six minutes to take a 36-32 lead at the half.
New Hampshire opened the second half with an 18-7 run to build a 15-point lead, 54-39, with 11:59 remaining in the game. The Catamounts stormed back behind a 20-5 run of their own. A free throw by Wills with 3:10 left in the contest knotted the game up at 59.
Daniel Dion made a pair of free throws to push UNH back in front by two, but
Brandon Hatton answered with a layup for UVM to tie the game again at 61.
Dion drained a 3-pointer to push the Wildcats back in front by three, 64-61, with 2:23 left. The Wildcats would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
Wills converted a free throw to slice the lead to two, but Miller responded with another 3-pointer for UNH with just over a minute left to extend the lead to five, 67-62. The Wildcats would hang on the rest of the way to post the win and moved to 7-3 at home.
The two teams combined for 75 free throw attempts in the game and both teams struggled from the line. Vermont shot 60.5 percent (23-for-38) from the stripe, while New Hampshire was 22-for-37 (59.5%) from the foul line.
Vermont shot 36.8 percent for the game from the field, while New Hampshire shot 50 percent from the floor. The Wildcats also went 7-for-13 from beyond the arc in the contest.
Vermont returns to action at UMass Lowell on Sunday. The Catamounts will play the first game of a doubleheader at the Tsongas Center. The UVM and UMass Lowell men's teams tipoff a 2 p.m. and will be followed by the women's teams at 4:30 p.m.
A.J. Kanell will have the call for the men's game on ESPN 101.3 FM (online:
1013 ESPN.com). The game can also be seen online via
ESPN3.com.