BURLINGTON, Vt. - The No. 23 Saint Michael's College men's basketball team lost an exhibition contest to Division I University of Vermont, 80-55, on Wednesday in Patrick Gymnasium. The Purple Knights' national ranking is according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), as Saint Michael's advanced to the 2024 NCAA Sweet 16, while the Catamounts qualified for the past three NCAA Division I Tournaments.
 
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
• Junior Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3-for-6 field goals, 2-for-2 three-pointers
• First-year Rico Byrd (East Moline, Ill./The Kiski School), 7 points
• Redshirt first-year Marcus Meeks (Prairie Village, Kan./Brewster Academy), 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3-for-5 field goals
• Redshirt first-year Tay Dzingou (Burlington, Vt./Burlington), 5 points, 3-for-3 free throws

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Nick Fiorillo, 12 points, 5-for-7 field goals
• Redshirt junior Sam Alamutu, 11 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4-for-7 field goals
• First-year Sean Blake, 11 points, 5-for-8 field goals

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights returned to the court after advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 last year for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
• Four newcomers saw major minutes, with Byrd and redshirt first-year Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU) among the starters. Dzingou, junior Kingsley Breen (Dover, N.H./Dover/Great Bay CC), first-years Harry Geng (Nantucket, Mass./Saint Johnsbury Academy) and Abdur-Rahman De Leon (Roxbury, Mass./Saint Thomas More School) appeared off the bench. Redshirt first-year Eddie Fisher (Worcester, Mass./We Believe Academy) saw time against Vermont in last year's exhibition contest.
• The University of Vermont won the last three America East Conference championships, qualifying for the NCAA Division I Tournament each season.
• Crews scored 15 of his points in the first half alone.

THE ACTION

• After Marold knocked down a straight-on three at 18:07 of the opening half, Fiorillo scored the next eight points in a matter of 1:04, with his corner triple making it 12-3 at 15:56.
• Marold converted a three-point play before Crews dropped home a driving lay-up at 9:09, and his triple at 7:19 cut the deficit to 28-14.
• Down by as many as 21, the Purple Knights benefited from Crews' personal 10-0 run to trim the deficit to 37-26 with 1:45 to go.
• Vermont slowly put together a 13-2 counter and never again led by fewer than 18 points.
• Saint Michael's later used a 6-2 spurt in the second half that featured buckets in transition from Crews and Meeks and a baseline drive from Kenney. Byrd added all of his points in the second half.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Nov. 8 vs. Caldwell University at Assumption University Tip-Off Classic, 5 p.m.