Articles

Men's Hoops: Vermont Rolls 92-70 Over Niagara

Details: Created on Sunday, 19 February 2012 02:35; Written by George Commo

McGlynn scores 20 points ... Rugg adds first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON – Freshman Four McGlynn scored 20 points to lead five Catamounts in double figures as the Vermont men's basketball team cruised to a 92-70 victory over Niagara as part of the Sears BracketBusters series on Saturday afternoon at Patrick Gym. The win is the 10th straight for the Catamounts, who improve to 19-10 overall.

Sophomore Clancy Rugg earned his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-best 12 rebounds, while Matt Glass netted 19, Luke Apfeld 14 and Brendan Bald 11 for the Cats. Vermont led for the entire game and would push its advantage to as many as 24 early in the second half. The Catamounts dominated the boards 42-22, shot 55.2 percent from the floor and went 20-for-22 from the line.

“Another good performance by our team, a real good team effort against a tough Niagara team today,” said Vermont head coach John Becker. “I thought in the first half especially we played really good defense and established what we wanted to do. We really executed our game plan, played for a full 40 minutes, played with the lead and finished it off. I am happy for this win and really happy for a lot of our guys who played well tonight.”

UVM jumped out to a 17-5 lead 5:54 in, as every Catamount starter scored in the run. Niagara (12-17) started the game making only three of its first 15 attempts as UVM would extend it to 31-17 after a 3-pointer from McGlynn.

Bald hit a jumper with two seconds left in the first half to give Vermont a 52-29 lead going into halftime. Eight different Catamounts scored in the opening 20 minutes, led by 13 from Glass. Rugg added nine points and seven rebounds in the frame, as the Catamounts owned a 23-10 advantage on the glass.

Vermont had as many offensive rebounds (10) as the Purple Eagles had total rebounds in the first half as the Cats also surpassed their point total from the Albany game (50) in the stanza alone. Vermont also went a perfect 11-for-11 from the line. In the second half a layup from Bald would extend Vermont's lead to 61-37 with 16:25 to go, as the Cats led by 20 or more for all but 48 seconds in the second half.

McGlynn went 7-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-10 from 3-point range, as the six 3's are the most for a Catamount since Glass hit six from long range last season against the eventual national champion UConn Huskies. Glass was 5-for-7 on Saturday from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. Sophomore Brian Voelkel also added five points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Antoine Mason led the Purple Eagles with 20 points, while Malcolm Lemons (17) and Juan'ya Green (12) also added double figures.

Vermont returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to face Binghamton at 7 p.m.

NOTES: The 92 points were the most for the Cats this season and most since they defeated Maine at the end of the 2008-09 season 93-81 … Vermont has now won 13 of its last 14 overall and with the win, it now is tied for the seventh-longest active winning streak in the nation … The Cats had five in double figures for a second time this season, as they are now 2-0 (UMBC) when doing so … Saturday marked the fifth, 20-point game for McGlynn this season … 13 of UVM's 19 wins this season have been by double figures … The Catamounts have won their last eight home games … Vermont has taken part in BracketBusters seven times … Saturday marked the first meeting between the two teams since the 1988-89 season … UVM has won 17 of its last 21 against teams from the state of New York … The Cats have won 26 of their last 31 games in the month of February … Rugg was named the America East Player of the Game ...