Men’s Hoops: Lamb’s Career High 37 Carry UVM to Fourth Straight Win

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON – The UVM men’s basketball team erased a double-digit deficit in the second half behind Anthony Lamb’s career-high 37 points for a 71-65 win against Ivy League preseason favorite Harvard on Saturday night. The Catamounts logged their fourth straight win and moved to 7-3. The Crimson suffer their second consecutive defeat and drop to 4-5.

COACH’S QUOTE
“A great win tonight and I told the guys after the game, that’s why you come to Vermont so that you can play in those types of atmospheres against really good teams,” Cioffi Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Becker said. “I challenged the guys at halftime to be tougher and we were the tougher team in the second half.”

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crimson hit their second attempt from the floor on a second-chance opportunity, but the group cooled off and missed nine of their next 13 attempts.
UVM tied the game at 7-7 at the 16:17 mark after Lamb drained a long ball from the top of arc. The junior’s triple sparked a 16-4 run fueled by a combined 11 points from Lamb and Ernie Duncan.
With the Catamounts up 18-11 with 11:31 left in the half, Harvard climbed back into the game and regained the lead, 28-27, with a 17-9 surge. The Crimson canned five triples in the process thanks to Spencer Freedman (11 points) and Corey Johnson (17 points).
The Crimson continued their hot streak from outside and buried four more three-pointers in the last five minutes of the period for a 36-29 advantage at halftime.
Vermont hit a pair from beyond the arc early in the second half but Harvard pushed its lead to double digits by the 16-minute media timeout at 45-35.
The Green and Gold capped off the comeback with an old-fashioned three-point play from Lamb and took a 55-54 lead near the five-minute mark. Despite four ties down the stretch, the Cats never trailed for the remainder of the game.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Lamb’s 37-point performance is the most points scored by a Catamount since Taylor Coppenrath racked up 37 points in the 2005 America East Championship Game. The Rochester, New York native notched 26 points in the second half and shot 14-of-22 from the floor for the night.
Ernie Duncan followed with 14 points and doled out a game-high six assists.
Everett Duncan added nine points, all from downtown, and collected three boards.
UVM has won four consecutive meetings with Harvard and inched closer in the all-time series at 15-18.
With the victory, the Cats Win, Community Wins campaign and Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate another $100 to the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, bringing this year’s total to 113 wins and $11,300.
WHO’S NEXT
Vermont will continue its three-game homestand against Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) preseason favorite Northeastern on Sunday, Dec. 16. The opening tip is set for 2 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or at the Patrick Gym Box Office on gameday. All of the action can be seen on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the contest on 101.3 The Game and 1013TheGame.com with Jake Marsh on the call.