America East Semifinal: UMBC at Vermont 3/10/20

Vermont 81 UMBC 74

EVERETT DUNCAN.

Everett Duncan put the Cats on his back and carried them to the finals. Everett continued his hot streak, setting a new career high with 26 points. Down the stretch it seemed like he got every big rebound, and made every big play. What a performance. With the rest of the Cats struggling from the perimeter, Everett knocked down 4-7 from three. He also drove hard to the hole and elevated his game to a different level in tonight. A Senior seizing his moment. In another great game in the rivalry with UMBC, the Cats had an answer for every run by the Retrievers. Even though they gave up 74 points their defense was engaged and forced UMBC into a lot of tough shots. Anthony Lamb led the charge with physicality on the defense end. Lamb had an edge to his game and worked hard at the rim all night. He finished with 19 points and set the tone with his focus and energy. Stef Smith shook off another tough night from the perimeter and finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds. He made some incredible drives to the rim and blew the top off of Patrick with a fastbreak dunk. The big three carried Vermont offensively but Ben Shungu, Bailey Patella, and Daniel Giddens provided toughness on the defensive end.  The crowd was as engaged and loud as they have been all season. Late in the second half the crowd was absolutely deafening as the Cats forced a shot clock violation. Also the power outage during the game was pretty surreal. Now onto the championship game against Hartford. The Cats will be playing in their 5th straight final and are hungry to go dancing. Hartford plays tough defense and has held Lamb to single digits in both games. It is going to be a battle. Hopefully Ryan Davis will be available for that game as he battles a leg injury. He brings a whole different dimension to the Cats offense and provides them with so much flexibility off the bench. Two down. One to go.