Nov. 27, 2005

Box Score

Burlington, VT - The Wagner College men's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season at Vermont, 71-67 earlier this afternoon. The defeat leaves the Seahawks at 2-1 on the season, while Vermont moved to 1-3 with the win.

Sophomore Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ / St. Augustine's Prep) led the way with 16 points, including a perfect 5-5 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Durell Vinson (Vineland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) and Matt Vitale (Brooklyn, NY / St. Edmonds Prep) each scored 13 a piece. Vinson also chipped in nine rebounds, while shooting 5-6 from the line in the contest.

Wagner trailed 61-55 with 3:06 to play, but rallied to tie the game on a Vitale three, one of his four on the day. After a bucket inside by the Catamounts, Porter would again even the score at 65 with a pair of free throws.

Vermont point guard Mike Trimboli then made four straight FTs to give the home team a 69-65 advantage. Porter would hit two more foul shots with nine second remaining, before Trimboli iced the game with two more FTs with eight seconds left to provide the final outcome.

The Catamounts opened up a closely played first half with an 8-0 run that gave them the largest lead of the game at 23-15 with 5:29 to play before intermission. The Seahawks would then answer with a 14-3 run over the next 3:30 that gave them a three point cushion (29-26) with two minutes left in the half. Vermont would score the games next five points before an off balanced jump shot by Porter just beat the first half clock and evened the score at 31-31 as the teams headed into the locker room.

A 6-0 run by Vermont to open the second half gave them a 37-31 lead, but Wagner fought back once more to tie the game at 42-42 with 13:05 to play. The game stood tight over the next few minutes when a three by sophomore James Ulrich (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Camden Catholic) and a pair of free throws from Vinson gave the Seahawks their largest lead of the game at 50-46 with 8:33 to play.

After Wagner forced the Catamounts into 2-10 shooting from the outside to start the game, they began to catch fire nailing three straight to spark an 11-3 run for a 57-53 advantage. After a basket inside by Vinson brought Wagner back to within two, Vermont scored on consecutive possessions for the 61-55 lead.

The Seahawks were outshot 51.0 percent to 45.8 percent from the field and grabbed 27 rebounds compared to 29 for Vermont. The 27 boards were the fewest in a game by Wagner in Head Coach Mike Deane's three years at the helm. A large portion of the Catamount's field goals came in the paint were they held a 28-12 advantage. The Seahawks held a 22-11 margin in points off turnovers and out scored the Vermont bench 25-7.

Vermont is now 50-4 at home since lat in the 2000-01 season, but had their consecutive sell out streak stopped at 16 straight.

Wagner returns to action on Wednesday at Brown for a 7:00 pm game.

~ wagnerathletics.com ~