Men’s Hoops: Vermont Wins First Game on Tom Brennan Court, Rolls Past Siena 81-57

Posted on , updated on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON — The University of Vermont men’s basketball team had six players reach double figures in an 81-57 rout of Siena on Monday night. UVM ended a recent three-game skid and improved to 7-4 on the year. Siena suffers its third straight defeat and falls to 2-8 this season.

The University of Vermont honored longtime coach Tom Brennan by renaming center court in Patrick Gymnasium “Tom Brennan Court” at a ceremony before the game. The dedication was presented by the UVM Alumni Association.

Drew Urquhart racked up a team-high 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.Everett Duncan and Stef Smith followed with 12 points apiece. Everett Duncan was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor, all from beyond the arc, and gathered five boards. Smith also had a solid night by making 5-of-6 attempts and dealt five assists. Trae Bell-Haynes and Ernie Duncan rounded out the scoring spree with 10 points each and combined for nine assists.

Siena was guided by a game-high 17 points from Ahsante Shivers. Nico Clareth was the second Saint to reach double digits with 16 points and seven boards.

The Catamounts jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first three minutes but the Saints answered with eight points from Clareth. As the two former conference foes kept the score tight near the midway point, Vermont began to pull away with a 22-6 run over the course of eight minutes and ran into the locker room with a 45-29 advantage at the break.

In the second half, Siena managed to cut the deficit to 49-36 at the 15:10 mark but UVM never let the Saints get any closer. The Green and Gold shot 57.1% (12-of-21) from the field in the final 20 minutes while holding Siena to only 33.3% (10-for-30) in the period.

After the brief stop in Burlington, Vermont will hit the road one more time during the 2017 calendar year at St. Bonaventure on Saturday (Dec. 16). The Cats and Bonnies will play at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York with a 4 p.m. opening tip. Fans can purchase tickets through TicketMaster.com. Television information will be announced later in the week. All Vermont regular season games can be heard on 101.3 ESPN FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call.