From the opening whistle to the final buzzer, the Vermont Catamounts outplayed Stony Brook University men’s basketball team,’ resulting in’ a 71-61 fall for the Seawolves this past Sunday afternoon. With the loss the Seawolves overall record has fallen to 7-13, while their conference record has dropped to 2-7.

On the other hand, the win has improved the Catamounts record to 15-6 overall, and 7-1 in conference play. ‘When you play a very good team like Vermont, you cannot shoot 24% in the first half and expect to win,’ said head coach Steve Pikiell. ‘We didn’t make jump shots when we needed to today.’ Right out of the gate, Vermont jumped all over Stony Brook as they started the game on an 8-0 run. In the first half, the Catamounts shot 50% from the field.

The opposing Catamounts had a lead as large as fourteen points, after a three pointer by Kyle Cieplicki with 7:09 left in the half. The Seawolves displayed some signs of heart as they cut the lead to five after nailing three straight shots from downtown. This momentum was quickly lost after Vermont went on a 12-3 run to close the half, putting them up 36-22.

The second half played out very similar to the way the first half played out. Early in the half, Stony Brook struggled to run their plays as well as score the ball with any consistency. Their brief spurts of energy gave the Seawolves’ fans hopes of achieving a win, but every time they got close, the Vermont squad would push the lead back to double digits. The Seawolves fell behind by fifteen points within the first few minutes of the half.

However, they were then able to cut the lead to a meager five points with 8:42 remaining after a Ricky Lucas jumper in the key. Over the next four minutes, the Seawolves experienced a scoring drought. The Catamounts took advantage of this drought as they went on an 8-0 run which virtually cemented their victory. The Catamounts shot 26-32 from the foul line during the game.

Ricky Lucas scored a game-high 18 points, but he was the only Seawolf in double figures. Two freshmen, Kyle Wright and Marcus Robinson, scored 9 and 8 points, respectively. Mike Trimboli led Vermont with 17 points. Lucas and Trimboli were named the America East Playersof the Game for their performances. This Wednesday, Jan. 31, the Seawolves are taking on Binghamton, where they will look to snap their three-game losing streak. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 pm in Vestal, New York.