Lyndonville, VT - Vermont State University Lyndon was unable to hold off Maine Maritime Academy in the second half of Saturday's North Atlantic Conference men's basketball game. The visiting Mariners overcame a five-point halftime deficit to come away with a 99-86 victory to improve to 6-9 on the season and 2-5 in NAC play. Lyndon fell to 1-17 overall and 1-7 in conference.
The Hornets jumped in front quickly thanks to the hot hand of Peyton Olsen (Middleburgh, NY). Olsen connected from three-point range on each of Lyndon's first three possessions to stake the Hornets to a 9-3 lead. The Hornets extended their advantage to 13-5 following a Gregory Gonyea Jr. (Dolgeville, NY) layup off of a Mariner turnover.
Maine Maritime then began to chip away at the Hornet lead. When the Mariners' Derick Santiago was fouled shooting a three-pointer, he converted all three free throws to give Maine Maritime their first lead at 20-18 with 10:18 to go in the opening half. The lead changed three more times after Mondwell Bukle (Fayetteville, NC) and Markus Ramirez traded three balls and Bukle connected again to put Lyndon up by one point. The Hornets were able to extend their advantage to eight points following a Bukle jumper at the 3:16 mark. Lyndon eventually took a five point advantage into intermission.
Ramirez connected on back to back three-pointers to open the second half and put Maine Maritime back in front. After Olsen connected from distance to put Lyndon back in front, a 10-0 Mariner run gave Maine Maritime a 56-48 advantage with 15:35 to go in the game. A Gonyea three-pointer ended the run, but back to back Ramirez threes pushed the Mariner lead into double figures at 62-51 with 14:13 to go.
Maine Maritime was able to extend their lead to as many as 14 points before Lyndon began to climb back into the game. Two Gonyea free throws made it 74-69 with 6:15 to go. The Mariners answered with a pair of inside baskets from Curt Heinz and a Ramirez layup to go back in front by 11.
After a Heinz baseline jumper extended the Mariner advantage to 85-72 with 3:24 to go, the Hornets put on one final charge. Olsen connected from three-point range, then converted a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to eight. After Maine Maritime's Carter Rubin made one of two free throws, another Olsen three narrowed the deficit to six points. After a Mariner turnover, Olsen was fouled and made one of two to make it 86-61 with 1:25 to go. That would be as close as the Hornets would get as the Mariners made seven of seven free throws down the stretch to seal the game.
Ramirez had a huge game to lead Maritime. He finished with 34 points, including 6/11 from behind the three-point arc. Heinz posted a double double with 30 points and 19 rebounds. Isaiah Oquendo finished with ten points and six rebounds for the Mariners.
Olsen led Lyndon with 30 points on 10/16 shooting, including 7/12 from behind the arc. Gonyea finished with 26 points, a team best seven rebounds, and four assists. Bukle also scored in double figures with 16 points, 13 in the opening half. Tyrese Harris (Fort Benning, GA) dished out a team best five assists.
The Hornets are off until next weekend when they host the University of Maine at Farmington in a pair of NAC contests. The Hornets and Beavers will tip off at 5:30 pm on Friday in the annual Coaches vs Cancer Game. The two teams will square off again on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm. The Saturday game will be Senior Day, as Lyndon will honor its six seniors prior to tip-off.
