Senior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.) added 15, while classmate Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass.) had 14 and junior Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J.) chipped in with his fifth double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“I thought that was a really good win for us tonight, George Washington plays really hard,” said Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan. “I thought we did a really good job mixing our defenses and not allowing them to get a lot of good looks from the outside. For us to out-rebound them, when were are not a great rebounding team, I thought our guys had a lot of fight in them. We did a good job with free throw shooting in the second half when it counted and got balanced scoring.”

Vermont would push its lead to 14, 4:48 into the second half on a lay-up from Blakely and would hold a double-digit lead until there was 7:50 remaining. The Cats hit seven of their first nine attempts from the floor coming out of halftime. George Washington (6-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10) would work its way back into the game and a three-point play by Rob Diggs with 2:56 left cut the Cat lead to 73-68.

Junior Nick Vier (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) responded on the other end with back-to-back big plays. Following the Diggs bucket Vier drove to the lane on the next possession, drawing the defense, before finding McIntosh for a lay-up. After a turnover by the Colonials, Vier created for himself on the next time down by taking it right to the rim for a lay-in, which pushed Vermont’s lead back to nine.

McIntosh scored the first six points of the contest, as Vermont jumped out to an early 8-1 lead. George Washington scored the next six to cut it to a one-point game, but the Cats responded with an 8-2 run to push it to a 16-9 advantage.

Joseph gave the Catamounts a burst in the opening half as he scored 13, including 10 straight at one point to give Vermont a 26-15 lead. McIntosh banked a jump shot with seven seconds left, but GW’s Travis King hit a three as time expired cutting Vermont’s lead to 38-29 at the break.

Joseph went 5-for-9 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line on his career-setting night. McIntosh added eight boards, while Vier matched a career-high with seven assists. Vermont just missed out on having six players in double figures as Vier finished with nine and freshman Garvey Young (Washington, D.C.) added eight off the bench.

 

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