Men’s Hoops: UVM Holds Off Quinnipiac 80-73 in 2017 Finale

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON – The Vermont Catamounts will head into the holiday break with an 8-5 record after beating Quinnipiac a 80-73 on Thursday night in the final contest of the 2017 calendar year. The Bobcats fall to 3-9 after suffering their third straight defeat.

Vermont shot 57.7% (30-for-52) from the floor and set a new season high in field goal percentage and field goals made. UVM also extended its home winning streak to 16 games with the victory.

Anthony Lamb notched his sixth 20-point outing of the season with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. The sophomore drained three attempts from downtown and gathered six rebounds.Trae Bell-Haynes was close to a double-double with 16 points, eight boards, and five assists. Brothers Ernie Duncan and Everett Duncan also reached double figures as Ernie tallied 11 points while Everett charted 10 points.

Quinnipiac was guided by the scoring duo of Cameron Young and Jack Rigoni. Young scored a team-high 18 points with four triples. Rigoni was right behind Young with 17 points and matched his teammate with four three-pointers. Isaiah Washington and Rich Kelly contributed 12 points apiece to round out four Bobcats in double figures.

Ernie Duncan got the offense started with back-to-back jumpers and sparked an early 10-4 run for the Cats in the opening seven minutes. Quinnipiac bounced back and tied the game at 13-13 after Rigoni made a pair from beyond the arc.

Vermont gained some breathing room with a 20-6 run over the next seven and a half minutes and held a 39-26 lead at halftime.

The Catamounts kept their lead hovering over double digits until the Bobcats slowly began to crawl back into the game with two minutes left on the clock. Young buried one from long distance at the 1:57 mark and cut UVM’s advantage down to 71-64. After forcing a missed shot by the Green and Gold, Kelly trimmed the deficit even further with a pair of free throws.

In the final 1:11, UVM cashed in and iced the game at the free throw line by sinking 9-of-10 attempts.

Vermont will open the new year at Ivy League rival Harvard on Tuesday, Jan. 2. The opening tip is set for 7 p.m. The contest will be nationally televised on NESNPlus and streamed online via the Ivy League Digital Network with a pay-per-view subscription. For NESNPlus, fans can contact their television provider for complete channel listings. Tickets are available for purchase at Tickets.GoCrimson.com. All Vermont regular season games can be heard on 101.3 ESPN FM and online at 1013ESPN.com with Sam Hyman on the call.