Lyndonville, VT - The Northern Vermont University-Lyndon men's basketball team completed a dramatic turnaround on Saturday afternoon, running away from Husson University for a 111-80 North Atlantic Conference victory on Senior Day. With the win the Hornets, who had dropped a 92-66 decision to the Eagles less than 24 hours earlier, improve to 6-13 on the season and 3-6 in NAC play. Husson, the NAC East Division leaders, suffered their first in-division loss. The Eagles are now 11-8 overall and 8-2 in conference.
Luke Fredsell (Whitesboro, NY) got the Hornets off to a lead that they would never relinquish when he connected on a three pointer on Lyndon's first possession. With Lyndon holding an 11-9 lead, back to back three-pointers from Antonio Carlisle (St. Johnsbury, VT) and Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY) extended the Hornet lead to eight at the 14:14 mark. Lyndon kept pushing the advantage, and a Carlisle three with 12:50 remaining in the half gave the Hornets their first double figures advantage.
Husson got back to within six points following back to back baskets from Derek Collin and Brett Cunningham, but Lyndon answered with a 23-11 run, capped by an Aiden Trapani (Deltona, FL) three-pointer, to take a 48-30 lead with 3:17 remaining in the half. After the Eagles' Corey Humbles knocked down a jumper, Husson had trimmed the lead to 51-37 at halftime.
Husson's Jared Balser scored on the Eagles' first possession of the second half to cut the Hornet lead to 12, but that was as close as Husson would come. When Fredsell drained a three, Lyndon had a 20-point advantage with 15:33 to go in the game. Husson responded briefly with a quick six-point run following the under-16 media timeout, but a Trapani jumper and another Carlisle three built the Hornet advantage back to 19 at the 13:37 mark.
With Lyndon leading by 21, Husson went on another quick run, capped by a Jeremy Moronta layup, to get within 76-61 with 11:17 remaining. Carlisle responded with an old fashioned three-point play on the next Hornet possession, and Husson never threatened the rest of the way. After Husson's Justice Kendall converted two free throws to make it 90-71, Lyndon, at the 7:49 mark, the Hornets responded with a 13-0 run to put the game away. The Lyndon lead ballooned to as much as 37 points, before settling at the final margin.
Carlisle had another huge game for Lyndon, finishing with a new career high of 36 points and going 11 for 18 from the floor, six for eight from behind the three-point arc, and a perfect eight for eight from the foul line. Seniors Fredsell and Falkenburg celebrated Senior Day with 17 and 16 points respectively. Trapani added 14 points and six rebounds, and Mondwell Bukle (Pyeongtaek, South Korea) chipped in with 13 points.
Cunning and Thompson paced Husson with 11 points apiece. Balser was the Eagles' only other player to reach double figures, as he finished with 10 points.
Lyndon made 38 of 71 shots (53.5%), including a blistering 18 of 33 (54.5%) from behind the three-point arc. Husson ws 30 of 66 (45.5%) from the floor, but only five of 17 (29.4%) from distance. Rebounding also played a key role in the contest. A day after getting outrebounded by 20, the Hornets were able to win the battle on the boards, 39-35. The Hornets only committed nine turnovers while the Eagles committed 13.
Hornet seniors Falkenburg and Fredsell were honored prior to today's game. Both were joined by family and friends, and thanked for their contributions to the Hornet basketball program.
The Hornets will return to action on Monday evening, when they host SUNY Delhi in a rescheduled NAC crossover contest. Tip-off in Stannard Gymnasium will be at 6:30 pm.
