Nov. 13, 2006
BOSTON (AP) -Mike Trimboli had 17 points and eight assists before crumpling to the floor with 19 seconds left Monday night as Vermont coasted to a 77-63 victory over No. 14 Boston College.
Trimboli also had six rebounds, but he put a scare into his team when he slipped near midcourt and needed a trainer to help him limp off the court, favoring his right leg. Chris Holm had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Joe Trapani had 13 points and eight boards.
Vermont (2-1) opened a 17-point lead in the first half and held off BC (1-1) in the second as it pressured the Catamounts into turnovers but couldn't make any baskets. The Eagles shot just 30 percent for the game, including 5-for-23 from 3-point range as they tried desperately to erase a double-digit deficit.
Jared Dudley had 19 points and 14 rebounds for BC, but had just two field goals in the second half. He scored 66 seconds into the second half and again in the final minute with a tip-in that ended BC's three-minute drought without a basket.
Vermont is no stranger to big wins, beating fourth-seeded Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 NCAA tournament just down the road in Worcester. BC's last loss to an America East team was to Northeastern in 2002-03 - a season when the Eagles finished 19-12 and missed the NCAA tournament.
Although Boston College came in as the ranked team from a power league - the Atlantic Coast Conference was 15-0 in nonconference games before Monday night - the Catamounts went on a 20-3 run to open a 41-24 lead just before halftime. Dudley made one free throw with 3.5 seconds left and missed the second before he scored on a one-handed putback of Marquez Haynes' missed rebound to make it 14 points at halftime.
Haynes' fast-break dunk excited the half-filled crowd of 5,035 and made it 48-39 with 15:34 left in the game. But Holm followed with a 3-pointer to spark an 8-0 run.
BC made just 27 percent of its shots in the first half, including 2-of-10 from 3-point range, and got outrebounded 22-19. BC was without suspended shot-blocker Sean Williams, who missed the first two games for an unspecified violation of team rules; Akida McLain was suspended nine games.
