Efficient Vermont men's basketball pummels New Hampshire
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Dylan Penn attacked like only he can. Finn Sullivan influenced both ends of the floor. Aaron Deloney polished off the game's definitive run. And Robin Duncan displayed much-needed physicality.
Wednesday night, it all added up to another win for the University of Vermont men's basketball team — and another loss for New Hampshire inside Patrick Gym.
After rolling up UMass Lowell with their best offensive performance to date on Saturday, the Catamounts showed a more complete team effort to thump the Wildcats 80-51 in an America East Conference game in front of 2,220 spectators.
Last month, Lowell and UNH beat Vermont in back-to-back games. But Vermont (16-10, 10-2) returned the favor at home to run its winning streak to eight games in a row. UVM coach John Becker had called this two-game homestand "revenge week" as the Catamounts positioned themselves closer to another conference regular-season title — holding a two-game lead over Binghamton with four games left.
Wednesday's triumph was also the Catamounts' 24th in a row over UNH in Burlington.
"To pick up two wins against two teams that beat us, the only two teams to beat us in conference so far, shows you what this team is about," Becker said. "We really didn’t need to talk about it much — those guys knew and they had two dominant performances this week."
And Penn, the senior transfer from Bellarmine, set the tempo from almost the opening tip. The crafty guard knocked down his first seven shots and finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while Aaron Deloney scored 15 points off the bench, Sullivan tossed in 14 points and Duncan hauled down a career-high 13 rebounds while handing out seven assists.
Vermont, which shot 50% from the floor, also out-rebounded UNH (11-13, 6-6) by a 40-28 margin and scored 40 points in the paint, which alleviated Becker's pregame worries. UNH entered Wednesday as the league's stingiest defense.
"I was concerned about this game because of their physicality. And they have some tough matchups for us," Becker said. "The way we are playing, we are getting out to 20-plus point leads it seems like every game. It’s a credit to our guys, a credit to the staff and we are certainly a confident group. It just seems like every year we put together these 8-, 10-, 12-game winning streaks."
More: Vermont women's basketball stymies New Hampshire for 11th straight victory
Penn, who scored 15 first-half points, said the game plan was to drive on UNH's tight, on-ball coverage.
"We know they like to play physical in their 1-on-1 matchups. So it was really going to be how much they were going to help off of our shooters," Penn said. "As the game progressed, we saw that they hugged up and started giving us more opportunities to take advantage of."
Penn dazzled with runners, strong takes and quick-release hook shots to ignite UVM's early offense.
"He’s so fast and so strong. When he’s playing so fast downhill, it’s really hard to guard him," Duncan said of Penn. "And it opens us up because teams either have to help or he’s going to have a layup ... it’s hard for teams to pick and choose what they want to do."
But UNH stayed with UVM through the 12-minute media timeout. Matthew Herasme's 3-pointer brought UNH to within 18-15 when Deloney provided spark. Last year's America East sixth man of the year collected five points, a steal and an assist in a 90-second span. His three-point play jumped the Cats to a 37-17 lead with 4:15 until the break.
UVM's run of 28-5 over the final 10:53 of the opening 20 minutes produced a 46-20 halftime lead.
"We really wanted to match their toughness. We didn’t do that in the previous game and I think we were able to do it today," Duncan said.
Right out of the intermission break, Kam Gibson (nine points) drained back-to-back 3s — via Duncan passes — and Sullivan splashed his only triple for a 55-24 margin. Sullivan also locked down Kyree Brown, UNH's third-leading scorer, who went 0 of 5 from the floor and didn't score.
The second-half lead grew to as many as 33 points. The starters were pulled for the final four-plus minutes.
UVM returns to action Saturday with a road trip to NJIT.
"You can see these guys are focused to close it out," Becker said of nearing the team's seventh straight regular-season crown. "They are winners. They want to win titles, they want to win another championship, they want to go to the NCAA Tournament.
"These guys feel a real responsibility to continue to win championships and do what it takes."
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont men's basketball: Catamounts rout New Hampshire
