HONOLULU, Hawaii – Senior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.) scored a game-high 24 points to lead the University of Vermont men’s basketball team to an 84-59 victory over Colorado in the third-place game of the Rainbow Classic on Tuesday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Cats improve to 8-4 with their first win in school history over a Big 12 Conference opponent.

Trimboli, who was named to the all-tournament team, was nearly perfect on the afternoon as he hit 8-for-9 from the floor, was 4-for-4 from three and had a game-high five assists with no turnovers. The Catamounts shot 56.9 percent from the floor and got 16 from junior Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J.) and 12 from senior Colin McIntosh.

The Catamounts opened the game up in the second half, as they extended an 11-point lead to 20 with 10-1 run that made it 67-48 with 9:09 left in the contest. Vermont would lead by as many as 28 in a game that saw 10 different Catamounts score.

In the first half the Catamounts started out slow, connecting on only three of their first nine but would end the frame making 12 of their final 17 as they took a 42-33 lead into the locker room. Vermont shot 57.7 percent from the floor and hit 6-of-7 from three.

Trailing 12-11, Vermont used a 7-1 burst to take the lead for the remainder of the half. Sophomore Joey Accaoui (Lincoln, R.I.) hit a three to open the run, while Blakely and sophomore Evan Fjeld (Durham, N.C.) added buckets to follow. A pair of free throws from Fjeld gave Vermont a 37-27 lead with 2:56 to go.

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