Lyndonville, VT - Playing their seventh game in the past eleven days, the Northern Vermont University-Lyndon men's basketball team was unable to hold onto a first half lead, as SUNY Canton pulled away in the second half for an 89-66 non-conference victory. The Roos improve to 11-10 on the season, while the Hornets fall to 6-15.
The two teams traded the lead several times in the opening minutes. A pair of Zion Tevaga free throws gave Canton a 15-13 lead with 11:16 to go in the half. The Hornets responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a basket and free throw from Aiden Trapani (Deltona, FL), to take their biggest lead at 23-17 at the 8:14 mark. The visitors answered with a 9-0 run of their own, as Quran DuBois' steal and layup made it 26-23 Roos.
Lyndon's Jeremy Peralta (Hagerstown, MD) connected on a three-pointer to draw Lyndon even. DuBois connected on a pull-up jumper to put Canton back in front, but Luke Fredsell (Whitesboro, NY) would give the lead back to the Hornets by draining a three-pointer at the 4:19 mark. However, the Roos closed the half on a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead into intermission.
The Hornets started the second half strong, pulling to within 42-40 following back to back three-pointers from Jaden Phillips (Temps, AZ). The Roos would score the next seven points, capped by a three from Andrew Fitch, to extend their lead to nine points less than two minutes later. A Zach Falkenburg (Bridgeport, NY) three briefly brought the Hornets to within seven at the 16 minute media marker, but that would be as close as Lyndon would get. The Roos came out of the media timeout with a 9-0 run to open up a 61-45 lead. They would pull away from there and cruise to the victory.
Fitch had a huge game to lead the Roos. He scored 24 points on 9-12 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds. DuBois chipped in with 17 points and Danny Santana added 11. Mondwell Bukle (Pyeongtaek, South Korea) and Antonio Carlisle (St. Johnsbury, VT) paced the Hornets with 14 points apiece. Falkenburg finished with ten points.
Canton made 35 of 63 attempts (55.6%) while Lyndon only converted 23 of 68 attempts (33.8%) The Roos dominated on the backboards, outrebounding the Hornets, 47-28.
The Hornets will close the regular season with a pair of games at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Friday and Saturday. Friday night's game will tip at 5:30 pm and the two teams will run it back Saturday at 1:00 pm.
