Cats maul Bears

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Vermont Catamounts avenged an earlier overtime loss to Maine this season in emphatic fashion at Patrick Gym.

Freshman guard Mike Trimboli led the Catamounts with 15 points but also dished out six assists as Vermont cruised over Maine, 79-48 Wednesday night.

Junior center Chris Holm had 13 points and eight rebounds while sophomore swingman Ryan Schneider had 11 points and eight boards off the bench. Sophomore forward Josh Duell had a great all-around effort with seven assists, five rebounds, seven points, and three steals.

Junior forward Chris Bruff came off the bench to lead Maine with 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia had 10 points.

The Catamounts, who are 11-12 overall and currently in third place in the America East standings with a 7-6 conference record, started to turn a close game into a runaway with a 13-0 run in the latter stages of the first half. Vermont went from being down 16-14 to going ahead 27-16 with seven minutes left. They took a 40-24 lead over Maine into halftime.

Things didn’t get any better for the Black Bears (9-15 overall, 4-9) in the second half as the Catamounts outscored Maine 11-2 to go up 64-35 with 10 minutes to play.

Maine was outrebounded 46-31 overall, outscored on points off turnovers 21-12, and outscored in points off the bench 29-11. The Bears also had just eight assists to Vermont’s 22.

CATAMOUNTS 79, BLACK BEARS 48

Maine men (9-15) Vermont (11-12)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bofia 5 9 0 4 10 McIntosh 3 8

Ahvnnmi 4 5 0 0 8 Holm 6 10 13

R. Turner 1 7 0 0 3 Klimes 3 7 7

E. Turner 2 8 2 2 6 Trimboli 5 15

Sheets 3 10 0 0 8 Duell 3 7 7

Bruff 3 9 5 6 11 Sisca 2 2 6

Hight 0 4 0 0 0 Pwlovich 0 1

Petkus 1 4 0 0 2 McCrory 3 5 6

Cvnaugh 0 2 0 0 0 Galloway 2 5

Dean 0 0 0 0

Shields 0 0 0 0

Schnder 5 9 0 11

Totals 19 58 7 12 48 Totals 32 60 14 79

Maine 24 48

Vermont 40 79

3-pt. goals – Maine (3-21): Sheets 2-7, R. Turner 1-6, Hight 0-1, Petkus 0-3, E. Turner 0-4; Vermont (8-16): Trimboli 4-5, Sisca 2-2, Schneider 1-3, Duell 1-4, McIntosh 0-2

Attendance: 2,633