Vermont 85 Hartford 54
Vermont dominated Hartford from start to finish to win their conference home opener. The Cats finally had the good offense/good defense game I have been waiting for. That is the type of team Vermont can be. When they focus on both sides of the ball they can take the other team completely out of the game. Darren Payen continued his unbelievable hot streak with another 18 points to lead Vermont. He is so decisive around the rim and the most positive outcome of Payton Henson's injury is that it woke Payen up. Henson returned to the court after his 5 game absence and looked like he didn't miss a beat. Henson finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 16 minutes. If he can remain healthy he will only add to a Cats team that is putting it all together. Another great team win where just about every player contributed positively. The only player who was off was Anthony Lamb, who struggled with making quick decisions with the ball and put himself in some really tough spots. He looked a little uncomfortable on the court as if he is afraid of making the wrong play and still trying to find his role (this coming right after I write that he is "quietly becoming a consistent player" pfff... what do I know). Dre Wills finished with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, continuing his renaissance on the defensive side of the ball. The depth of Vermont is continuing to be showcased and if there is one factor that I can clearly say Vermont has that no other team in the league has, it is a very deep bench. Other teams have a couple good, key players on their bench. Vermont has basically an entire second team that is able to be interspersed throughout the game very effectively. Josh Hearlihy played a season high 20 minutes and they were still a little uneven, but I thought it was his most effective stretch of the season. His ball handling ability gives Vermont a weapon against full court pressure and he is slowly but surely shaking off the rust. His offense is very limited but he is a versatile piece for Becker to use to change the look of Vermont's lineup. The only concerning stat from this game was how Hartford really took it to the Cats on the boards. Hartford is a very poor rebounding team and they pulled down 15 offensive rebounds and were basically even on the glass. That has not been an area of struggle thus far this season so hopefully it is a blip on the radar. The next two games on the schedule will be very interesting for Vermont. The Binghamton road trip is always a difficult one and there are very short turnarounds this week with a Sunday-Wednesday-Friday game schedule. In the Friday game Vermont plays host to UMBC who has been playing extremely well all season and looks to be a legitimate threat. That game will go a long way to seeing how the standings will shake out this season. The topsy turvy America East continued on day two with Stony Brook moving to 2-0 in conference dropping Albany to 0-2 by virtue of a 21-0 run to finish the game. Every game matters and the bottom half of the league is clearly much better than in years past. This is the type of dominating win Vermont needed to announce that they intend to do everything they can to take the reins of the league.
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