POULTNEY, Vt. – Southern Vermont College got double-digit scoring performances from four players while receiving at least one point from 12 players in a 96-53 men's basketball non-conference victory over Green Mountain College on Thursday night at the Eagle Dome.
Green Mountain looked nervous coming out of the gates against the Mountaineers as the visitors would take advantage of some tentative play by the Eagles to build a 13-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. Sophomore forward Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Md.) contributed six out of the 13 points in the opening run.
Eagles' freshman forward Tyler Provencher (Ferrisburgh, Vt.) halted the run with a free throw and seemed to give the Eagles a little bit of momentum in a fast-paced first half. Sophomore guard Robert Holloway (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) would convert a layup while freshman guard Caleb Rogers (Port Aransas, Texas) hit a trey to get the Eagles rolling.
The Mountaineers did not allow the Eagles to build significant momentum as sophomore forward DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half to help grow Southern Vermont's lead to as many as 30 points by the break.
Southern Vermont (2-1) shot 55.9 percent from the field in the first period as opposed to just 26.7 percent for the Eagles. That differential would help them take a 51-21 lead into the intermission.
Green Mountain (0-2) tightened its defense in the second stanza, holding the visitors to just a 39.5 percent clip from the field. The Eagles also did a better job running their offense which was evidenced by an improved 34.8 percent shooting performance from the field.
Eagle forward Terry Jones (Pearl, Miss.) and guard Cassius Belfon (Boston, Mass.) were noticeably more aggressive in the second half as they came out of the break scoring the first 16 points for the home side. Despite holding the visitors to a better percentage from the field, the Eagles were still outscored 46-32 in the second stanza and could not come back from their first half deficit.
Southern Vermont was led offensively by Hamlet who scored 15 points and added eight rebounds. The Mountaineers also received double-digit scoring from Olugbile who finished with 13, freshman Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) who dropped 11, and freshman Blair Manners (Auckland, New Zealand) who put in a career-high 10.
Jones and freshman forward Javier Lugris (Madrid, Spain) each contributed 10 points for the Eagles while Lugris would share the team's rebounding lead (7) with junior forward Billy Brink (Carlsbad, Calif.).
Southern Vermont will host The Sage Colleges on Saturday for its home opener at 3 p.m. while Green Mountain will next take on Johnson State College in the team's first North Atlantic Conference game of the season on Wednesday, December 4th.