Articles

Long Island Tops Vermont in Men's Basketball 80-75

Details: Created on Monday, 21 November 2011 02:57; Written by George Commo

Catamounts fall to 2-2 on the year with the loss

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Jamal Olasewere and Julian Boyd each scored 18 points to lead Long Island to an 80-75 victory over the Vermont men's basketball team on Sunday night as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Sophomore Brian Voelkel led the Catamounts with 13 points, as they fall to 2-2 on the year with the loss.

The game was tied 60-60 after a 3-pointer from Catamount sophomore Sandro Carissimo, but Long Island answered with a 12-0 run to take control for good. Voelkel added nine rebounds and seven assists, to lead four Catamounts in double figures.

“A tough game tonight, LIU is a very good team and I give them all the credit, they played better than us,” said Vermont head coach John Becker. “I am proud of our guys, we fought back and tied the game late. We knew this was a very good team, they are an NCAA Tournament type team and we are hoping that we can be too.”

Vermont led 8-6 early before eight straight from the Black Birds gave LIU a 14-8 advantage. Trailing 19-14, the Catamounts used an 8-2 run to take a 22-21 lead with 6:55 left in the half on a layup from sophomore Luke Apfeld. Vermont had to deal with early foul trouble again with its post players, but kept it close thanks to the play of Voelkel and freshman Four McGlynn.

With the game tied with 4:31 to go, Long Island scored 10 in a row to take a 39-29 lead. The Catamounts scored the final four of the frame on a Matt Glass dunk and a pair of free throws from junior Brendan Bald to trail 39-33 at the half. McGlynn led UVM at the half with nine points, while Voelkel added eight points and seven rebounds.

In the second half Vermont looked to go into the post early, as junior Ben Crenca scored the Cats' first six points. Long Island was on top 50-41 before UVM used a 9-0 run to knot the score. Senior Pat Bergmann scored the first four points on a pair of layups, McGlynn added two in the paint and Bald capped it off with a 3-pointer from the wing with 12:04 to go.

Long Island (2-3) opened the game up as after a Carissimo 3-pointer tied it at 60-60. Just as they did all night, the Black Birds had an answer by rattling off the next 12 in a row to go on top 72-60 with 3:07 left in regulation. Long Island recorded its last field goal of the night with 4:09 to go, but as it did all game the Black Birds kept finding their way to the line where they scored their final 12 points of the contest.

McGlynn finished with 11 points off the bench, while Glass and Crenca added 10 apiece. Six different Catamounts scored eight or more on the night, as UVM shot 51.7 percent from the floor as a team.

Boyd added a game-high 12 rebounds for Long Island, while Jason Brickman and Michael Culpo netted 10 each. The Black Birds went 26-for-37 from the line, as Vermont only took 12 attempts, making nine.

The Catamounts return to action on Wednesday when they travel to face Old Dominion starting at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Sunday was only the second-ever meeting between the two teams in men's basketball, as Vermont took the first 101-82 during the 1979-80 season … LIU was the Northeast Conference Champions last season and made the NCAA Tournament … Voelkel is the seventh different Catamount to reach double figures this season … For the third straight game Vermont played at least 10 guys in the first half, as 11 appeared in the opening 20 minutes on Sunday night … Freshman Chris Santo made his first career appearance for the Catamounts in the first half … Voelkel was named the America East Player of the Game ...