Vermont 69 Stony Brook 53
In front of a sellout crowd at Patrick Gym, Vermont clinched the America East regular season title in convincing fashion. Against number two Stony Brook Vermont took an early lead and never looked back, dominating the Seawolves. After Sony Brook hit their first shot Vermont went on a 14-0 run and maintained a double digit lead for the rest of the game. Much like the Cats have done to every other team in the conference, they controlled the game both offensively and defensively and never allowed Stony Brook to get back into the game. During the conference schedule Vermont has allowed teams to score less than 50 points per game. This defensive intensity has set the tone for each and every game. Vermont forced Stony brook in to tough shots early and created a few turnovers as well. The most impressive aspect of the start to this game was the fact that Stony Brook did not get their first rebound of the game until about 5 minutes in. Stony Brook has been a very good rebounding team and for the Cats to assert themselves on the boards the way the did really made a statement. Now Stony Brook is definitely not the team they were at the beginning of the year. It looks to me like there are some locker room issues and the fact that Pikell had been having Warney come off the bench is strange as well. Warney is also dealing with some injury issues but Vermont just flat out took him out of the game. Warney has been everyone's pick as the best player in the conference and in this game he had 7 points and 1 rebound. ONE REBOUND!!! Are you kidding me? That is just unacceptable for a player of his caliber and to me it speaks to a lack of intensity. Vermont also made Warney shoot 3 for 10 from the field which is impressive considering he leads the nation in field goal percentage. Anyway enough about Stony Brook. This was a total team effort on the Cats part and everyone contributed in true Vermont fashion. Brian Voelkel gave his starting spot to his best friend Josh Elbaum which really tells you what kind of person he is. Vermont didn't skip a beat and embraced the moment by executing their game play perfectly. Luke Apfeld had his second consecutive strong game and looks like he is going to go all out now that the end is in sight. All of the rest that the coaching staff has provided him looks to have helped Apfeld stay healthy and energized. It was great to see him get his 1,000th point on senior night and in such an important game. The three point barrage to start the game opened things up for Vermont to attack inside in the second half. Ethan O'Day is playing at a high level much like the end of last year. His midrange jumper is a great weapon and it feels like it is going in every time he takes it. It is hard to write enough words about how great of a player Brian Voelkel is. He again stuffed the stat sheet and controlled the game on both the offensive and defensive end. He finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists while locking down Stony Brook on the defensive end. The performance in this game solidified Voelkel's position in my eyes as the player of the year in the conference. An award like that would speak to the effect he has on the game without scoring. Clinching the title is the first piece of the puzzle for this group and the next game at Binghamton is very important. It is easy to breathe a sigh of relief and start to believe in your own hype. This group has been able to avoid that phenomenon thus far but it can creep up at anytime. Anyone is watching college basketball right now has seen many teams stumble at this point in the year. For example, last night Saint Louis, who had reached number 10 in the country lost at home to a very poor Duquesne team. This is what makes Vermont's dominance thus far such an amazing and historic accomplishment. The task now is to not let up and keep pushing all the way to the title. This group has the maturity to do so and it all starts with Binghamton on Sunday. One game at time.
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