Vermont 56 Stony Brook 50
Three in a row!!
Vermont overcame another offensive meltdown and used their tough physical defense to put Stony Brook away and clinch the America East regular season title. Three straight regular season titles is an incredible accomplishment. You have to go all the way back to Drexel in the mid 90's (with current UNH coach Bill Herrion) for the last team to complete the trifecta. I realize that the tournament title is the real goal, but the sustained regular season success the Cats are in the midst of cannot be overlooked. In this game the Cats came out with more energy than they have had in weeks. They looked recharged and Isiah Moll and Ryan Davis played particularly well. They closed the first half with a 12 point lead and looked every but as if they were poised to take over the game. Then they came out of the locker room charged up even more and tried to win the game in the first 5 minutes. They took a ton of threes and too many quick shot with little success. This opened the door for Stony Brook to go on one of their patented runs. The Seawolves responded with a flurry of three pointers and stormed back to take the lead. Nothing was falling for Vermont and they fell behind by five. Then, down by three with 6 minutes to go, Ryan Davis hit the shot of the game. Davis knocked down a three from the wing to tie the game and gave Vermont the boost they needed to finish the game. Davis is really starting to come around and played this game with his best energy of the season. A few minutes later with the game tied Ben Shungu hit a tough shot in the open floor which proved to be the game winner. In crunch time other players have to step up and tonight was all about the unlikely heroes. Shungu started his second consecutive game and showed tremendous poise and toughness. Shungu finished with 7 points and a team high 8 rebounds. His transformation from walk on to key player is awesome. The offensive slowdowns continue to be concerning but the defensive intensity that the Cats are able to bring has been incredible. This is the type of game great teams have to be able to win. Against a very good Stony Brook team Vermont was able to use their defense when their shots weren't falling. This game had a playoff atmosphere with the regular season title on the line in front of a sellout crowd. The Cats checked goal number one off the list and are ready to make the push for the title.
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