Courtesy Vermont Sports Information
BURLINGTON – Marist led 14-12 at the 12:03 mark of the first half but Vermont answered with a 10-0 run and never looked back cruising to an 86-60 win over the Red Foxes at Patrick Gym Sunday afternoon. UVM snaps a two-game losing skid and improves to 3-4 while Marist falls to 1-3.
Kurt Steidl returned to the Vermont lineup and paced five Catamounts in double-figures with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Dre Wills played 27 minutes in just his second game of the season and filled the stat sheet. Wills scored 10 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out six assists and also had two steals.
After only two players recorded double-doubles all of last season, three players have already accomplished the feat this season for Vermont.
Ethan O’Day, Cam Ward and Nate Rohrer all scored 11 points for Vermont, which outrebounded Marist by a staggering margin, 46-20.
Brian Parker led the way for Marist scoring 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
After a 6-0 spurt to start the game for Vermont, Marist quickly turned the tables and took a 14-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Khallid Hart. The 10-0 Vermont run that ensued featured five straight points from Rohrer followed by five straight from Steidl and UVM led 22-14 with 8:07 to play in the first half.
Marist trimmed the lead to as many as five late in the half but UVM’s defense stiffened up down the stretch closing the first 20 minutes on an 11-2 run to head to the locker room with a 43-29 lead.
The run continued after the break with buckets from Wills, Steidl and O’Day as the lead ballooned to 22 before Marist got on the board at the 17:27 mark. In total, it was a 19-2 run that bridged halftime to give Vermont complete control.
Ward scored all 11 of his points in the final 8:52 of the game and he drilled a trifecta to give Vermont its biggest lead of the day, 78-49. Dylan Sinnickson scored his first career Catamount points with 33 seconds to go and UVM held its opponent to 60 points or less for the first time this season.
Vermont will look to make it two in a row on Wednesday, Dec. 2 when it travels down I-89 to take on rival Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. Tipoff against the Big Green is scheduled for 7 p.m. and all the action can be heard on ESPN 101.3 FM with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30.