Vermont 86 Albany 75
Well that was a fun one.
In a wild game where shots were falling from everywhere, Anthony Lamb poured in a season high 33 points to lead the Cats to their seventh straight victory. The game seesawed back and forth as both teams scorched the nets. In the first half Lamb and Cameron Healy traded big shot after big shot. At the end of the first half Vermont and Albany traded three point buckets and it looked like the Great Danes were going to go into halftime with a one point lead. Stef Smith didn't like the sound of that so he dropped in a three-quarters court heave to give Vermont a two point halftime lead. Vermont came out in the second half and capitalized on that momentum, ballooning the lead to 21 points. Then Albany came roaring back thanks to some electric three point shooting by Antonio Rizzuto. After all that offense what ended up sealing the game was Vermont's toughness on the glass. Robin Duncan grabbed three offensive rebounds on one possession as Vermont dominated the glass over the last 4+ minutes. Lamb was electric in this game scoring from everywhere and looking like the Lamb of last season. Over the last few games he has seen less double teams and the results speak for themselves. This game was a perfect example of the conundrum facing opposing defenses. In the first half Albany did not double Lamb and he scored 20 points. The Great Danes came out in the second half and began doubling. The rest of the Cats caught fire and the lead grew without Lamb's scoring. Stef Smith was a sniper in this game knocking down 4-5 from three on his way to 14 points. Smith also led the team with 6 assists. Ryan Davis was forced into an even larger role with Daniel Giddens going down with what looked like a potentially serious injury. Davis responded yet again and dominated the paint with 13 points and 6 boards. His offensive rebounding has been particularly impressive, pulling down tough rebounds in traffic and getting the ball back up at the rim quickly. Ben Shungu rounded out the double digit scorers with 10. Another great team win on the road in a tough environment. Albany was riding the energy of the crowd for much of the game and the Cats were able to respond each time. Through he first half of the conference season the Cats sit at 7-1, alone in first place. They have reestablished themselves as the team to beat and are making progress with each game. The second half of the conference season begins with Maine at Patrick on Wednesday night.
