SEATTLE, Wash. – The Vermont men's basketball team used a stifling defensive effort to run past Seattle University, 73-54, and advance to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational for the second straight season.
Vermont improves to 23-13 on the season and is the third America East program to reach the semifinals of the CBI in the last seven years.
UVM's inspired defensive performance forced 19 Seattle turnovers and the Catamounts turned them into 17 points at the other end. The Redhawks shot just 33.3% (18-of-54) for the game and 5-of-21 from beyond the arc.
Kurt Steidl's 17 points paced four Catamounts in double figures as the junior shot 5-of-7 overall and 3-of-4 from downtown. Trae Bell-Haynes pumped in 16 points, six rebounds and five assists while Ernie Duncan and Darren Payen both chipped in with 14 points. Dre Willsonce again filled the stat sheet scoring five points, hauling in a game-high eight rebounds to go along with four steals.
Brendan Westendorf led Seattle with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists but shot just 5-of-15 from the floor. Jack Crook finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Redhawks.
UVM jumped out to an early 6-0 thanks to a pair of long-range connections from Duncan and Steidl to start the game. The Cats kept Seattle at arms length for a majority of the first half and led by as many as seven on two different occasions over the first 20 minutes.
A Payen follow-slam put Vermont up 23-18 with 10:35 to play in the half and UVM took that five-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
Seattle erased that deficit within the first four minutes of the second half and took its first lead of the day (36-34) on a pair of Westendorf free throws at the 14:43 mark. But it was Vermont who had the answer, using an 8-0 run featuring two buckets apiece for Wills and Payen to climb back in front, 42-36.
After the Redhawks cut the lead to two with 11 minutes to play, a Duncan trifecta triggered a 12-0 UVM run over the next six minutes. Bell-Haynes capped off the stretch with a pair at the line to give his squad a 54-40 lead with just under five minutes to play. The lead ballooned to as many as 22 late in the contest as free throws sealed the Cats' first-ever win in the Pacific Northwest.
UVM will stay on the west coast and head to Reno to take on Nevada in the CBI semifinals on Wednesday night at 10 p.m. EST.
Courtesy: UVM Athletic Commmunications