FINAL SCORE: Vermont 78, Saint Louis 68
CONWAY, S.C. – Vermont (4-0) punched its ticket to the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational by defeating Saint Louis (3-1) 78-68 on Friday afternoon at the HTC Center. The Catamounts open the season with four straight wins for the first time since 2019-20.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Another really good team win today against a good Atlantic 10 team in Saint Louis," Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker said. "I thought offensively we were much, much better today than we were yesterday where it was a little bit of a slug in the first half. TJ Long all year has been incredible since transferring from Fairfield. He's been shooting the lights out and just scoring and doing a little bit of everything. I thought there were great efforts by just about everyone that played today. We knew we were going to have to get on the glass against an athletic, tough team, even though they're undersized. We continued to shoot the ball well, so the three-point line has been good to us. I'm just really proud of this group and really excited for an opportunity to play in a championship game."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Catamounts jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first 2:41 of the game with Matt Veretto and Long draining three pointers to spark the early offense. Shamir Bogues scored two of his 12 first-half points during the opening stretch.
• Saint Louis briefly cut the deficit to two points, trailing 11-9 with 16:10 left in the half, but UVM countered with a 6-1 run to stretch its lead. Bogues scored all six points for the Catamounts.
• The Billikens chipped away at the UVM lead once again when Gibson Jimerson and Terrence Hargrove Jr. outscored the Cats 6-2 to trail 19-16 with 12:40 remaining in the opening half.
• Vermont and Saint Louis traded baskets over the next few minutes before the Catamounts embarked on a 20-8 run to close the half with a 47-32 lead. TJ Long converted an and-1 with 8:30 left to spark the UVM run.
• An 11-3 start to the second half by the Billikens brought the UVM lead down to seven points just 2:52 into the frame.
• Vermont countered with a 14-4 run to grow the lead back up to 17 points with 11:41 remaining. Brenton Mills checked in and drained a pair of three pointers to make the score 64-47.
• Jimerson made a layup on the following possession to spark a 10-2 run for Saint Louis who brought the deficit back down to single digits, trailing 66-57 with 7:02 to play.
• Momentum shifted back in favor of Vermont when Long made a layup with 6:31 to go to stop the Saint Louis run. Veretto came up with a huge block on the defensive end and the Catamounts ran down the court where Long drained a three-pointer to put Vermont up 71-57 with 6:09 to play.
• Veretto made the score 78-61 with 2:27 remaining as the Catamounts held off the Billikens.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vermont made 29-of-52 (55.8%) of its attempts from the field and knocked down 11-of-24 (45.7%) attempts from long range. Five different Catamounts registered multiple three pointers.
• Long scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. The junior was 2-for-5 from beyond the arc and made two free throws. Long also recorded four rebounds.
• Veretto and Bogues each recorded 14 points. Veretto made 6-of-11 attempt from the floor, and drained two triples. The graduate student also matched a career-high three blocks. Bogues was 7-for-10 from the field and recorded three steals in 34 minutes of action.
• Aaron Deloney rounded out the Catamounts in double figures, posting 12 points on an impressive 4-for-6 day from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT
Vermont will face Liberty in the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Sunday (Nov. 19) at HTC Center. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. ET.  
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
The championship game will be televised nationally on ESPN 2 with Rich Hollenberg and Daymeon Fishback on the call. The broadcast will also be available for streaming on ESPN+. Fans can listen to the game 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.

MILITARY APPRECIATION JERSEY AUCTION
Don't forget to bid on game-worn jerseys from Vermont's Military Appreciation Night presented by Milton CAT. The jerseys are available for auction online, with the auction closing at 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 18. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Josh Pallotta Fund.
 
McGee Automotive Family is the presenting sponsor of Vermont men's basketball