Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
BURLINGTON – The UVM men’s basketball team improved to 3-0 in conference play after beating Stony Brook 73-62 on Saturday afternoon. Vermont stands at 13-5 on the season while Stony Brook drops to 7-11 overall and evens its league mark at 2-2.
UVM extended a pair of streaks by reaching the win column for the 24th straight time against an America East opponent and recorded its 19th consecutive victory at Patrick Gym.
Trae Bell-Haynes notched his second straight 20-point effort. The senior racked up a game-high 20 points and finished the conference matinee with a career-high four triples. Ernie Duncan andPayton Henson added 12 points apiece and combined to shoot 5-for-7 from long range. Nate Rohrer reached double figures for the first time this season with 10 points. Samuel Dingba had a solid outing with eight points and four rebounds.
Stony Brook’s offense was guided by Junior Saintel’s team-high 18 points. Saintel made 8-of-9 attempts from the field and collected four rebounds. Jaron Cornish followed with nine points, five boards, and three assists.
The Seawolves won the opening tip and proceeded to make 10 of their first 13 field goal attempts. Stony Brook held a 20-13 lead at the 13-minute mark but UVM mounted a comeback and tied the game at 22-22 with 10:25 left on the clock after Cam Ward converted a four-point play. Duncan stole the ball away from the Seawolves and passed ahead to Ward, who drained a corner three and made the ensuing free throw. Ward’s and-one provided a spark and helped the Cats hold the Seawolves without a field goal for over six minutes in the midst of an 18-5 run.
Bryan Sekunda made a three-pointer in front of Vermont’s bench and cut UVM’s lead to 31-28 with four minutes left in the period. The Cats answered and closed out the half on 9-2 run after Bell-Haynes began to heat up from outside and Rohrer finished a two-handed slam in the final seconds for a 40-30 halftime cushion.
In the second half, Duncan and Henson sank three-pointers on back-to-back possession as the Catamounts stretched their lead to 46-32. Stony Brook managed to get the deficit to single digits with 14 minutes left to play, but once again Vermont responded. The Green and Gold produced a 17-5 run over an 11-minute stretch and built a 19-point advantage near the four-minute media timeout.
With the win, the Cats Win, Community Wins campaign and Vermont Mutual have donated another $100 to the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, bringing this year’s total to 69 wins and $6,900 donated.
Vermont returns to action against Maine on Monday (Jan. 15). The opening tip is set for 7 p.m. Single game tickets are available for each contest at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or at the Patrick Gym Box Office on gameday. Fans can watch each America East matchup on ESPN3 and the watchESPN app by logging in with your television provider. All Vermont regular season games can be heard on 101.3 ESPN FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call.