BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team lost to Division I University of Vermont, 76-69, on Wednesday during an exhibition game in Patrick Gymnasium. The Purple Knights, who qualified for two of the past three NCAA Tournaments, received votes toward the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national poll. The Catamounts played in three of the last five NCAA Division I Tournaments.
 
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Amadou Fall (Bronx, N.Y./Millbrook School/Lincoln), 18 points, 8 rebounds, 7-for-9 field goals, 4-for-4 three-pointers
• Junior Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU), 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6-for-10 field goals, 3-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior Coleman Hopson (Montclair, N.J./The Newman School/AIC), 10 points
• Sophomore John Kelley (Plaistow, N.H./Kimball Union Academy), 7 points, 3 rebounds
• Sophomore Dior Kennedy (Coatesville, Pa./Hargrave Military Academy/New Haven), 4 assists, 2 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Momo Nkugwa, 19 points, 3 steals, 7-for-8 field goals, 3-for-4 three-pointers
• Junior Will Davies, 18 points, 5 assists, 7-for-9 field goals, 3-for-4 three-pointers
• Redshirt junior Gus Yalden, 15 points, 5-for-11 field goals
• Junior Khalil Badru, 8 points, 9 rebounds

THE ACTION

• Fall buried a three at 14:55 of the opening stanza on his first offensive possession to give Saint Michael's an 8-4 lead before Nkugwa tied the game on a dunk 1:44 later, and neither team led by as many points again until Vermont finished off a 10-4 run when Davies buried a three to put the Catamounts up 26-21 at 4:06.
• Nkugwa extended the advantage to a half-high 31-23 on a dunk with 3:03 left before Fall threw down a dunk of his own at 1:04 and buried a corner three 25 seconds later to trim the deficit to 34-33.
• Nkugwa's three with 10 ticks to go sent the hosts into the locker room up by four.
• Fall hit a three that cut the deficit to 44-42 by 15:51 of the second half, but Yalden and senior Darrel Yepdo knocked down treys 31 seconds apart to make it 50-42 only 48 ticks later, and the lead grew 70-52 thanks to Vermont's 14-2 run, around senior TJ Henaghen's (Hampden, Maine/Williston Northampton School) putback dunk.
• Kenney scored seven straight points to bring Saint Michael's within 75-64 at 2:27, and sophomore Drew Bessette's (Milton, Vt./Rice Memorial/Vermont) lay-in on his first touch made it 76-66 with 1:34 to go. Sophomore Rudolfs Svitins (Riga, Latvia/Rigas Komercskola/Yavapai) drilled a three at the buzzer to produce the final score.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Nov. 9 vs. Chestnut Hill College, 6 p.m.