They've seen this before at Rice Memorial high school, but for some fans who attended the home opener for the UVM men's basketball team at Patrick Gymnasium last night, it was their first glimpse at what freshman Ben Shungu can do.
The Rice stand-out played 19 minutes along with Quinnipiac transfer Samuel Dingba, both logging the most court time in UVM's 90-54 win over Maine-Fort Kent in a non-conference contest.
Shungu scored 11 points and took down five rebounds, while Dingba scored a game-high 13 in his Catamounts debut, adding six rebounds as UVM improves to 4-1 on the season.
To the pro hardwood and someone was going to stop the Boston Celtics winning streak, but I doubt many hoops pundits thought the Miami Heat would be the team to do it. One hallmark of the Celtics sixteen game winning streak, the fourth longest in franchise history, was a habit of living dangerously by falling into double digit deficits but coming back to win to keep the streak alive. It's something that happened in wins against Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Golden State, Atlanta, and Dallas, and the Celtics almost pulled the rabbit out of the hat again against Miami, trailing by as many as 18 before pulling to within one with a little over three minutes left in regulation. But Miami's Dion Waiters said enough is enough and scored six more points in the final three minutes, including a three-pointer that clanged up off the rim and took the kind of bounce the leprechaun of the old Boston Garden used to conjure up for the home team, falling through to secure pad the lead and give the Heat bragging rights as the team that stopped Boston's streak at sweet sixteen in a 104-98 win in Miami. Waiters finished with 26 points while Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 23 in the losing effort, the first defeat the Celtics have suffered since October 18th.
On the ice, the Boston Bruins had a much more modest streak to maintain, hoping to win three games in a row for the first time this season, and it took an eleven-round overtime shootout against a very good New Jersey Devils team to get it done. New Jersey's Taylor Hall and Boston's David Pastrnak scored early in the shoot-out round but after that neither team seemed able to beat either Bruins back-up goalie Anton Khudobin, making his third straight start in favor of Tuukka Rask, or New Jersey's Cory Schneider, until defenseman Charlie McAvoy showed some offensive trickery, skating in with a slow arc on Schneider,, feigning a forehand shot before moving to his backhand to lift the game-winner over the Devil's goalie and give the Bruins a 3-2 win. Rookie Jake DeBrusk and veteran Patrice Bergeron scored to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead in regulation before the Devils chipped away and tied the game late in the third, but McAvoy's heroics in the shoot-out now have Boston hoping to make it four in a row when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow afternoon.
The Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators also needed shoot-out rounds to decide their contest in Tennessee last night, and only Kyle Turris of the Predators could light the lamp in the shoot-out to send Nashville to a 3-2 victory. Filip Forsberg scored two power play goals for Nashville in regulation, and the Habs got goals from Jordie Benn and Joe Morrow to earn at least a point in the standings for the regulation tie. Montreal fans were probably slapping their foreheads in disbelief when Paul Byron had Pekke Rinne beat in the shootout round but hit the crossbar with his attempt, running Montreal's losing streak to five in a row.
It was the night of the shoot-outs in the NHL, apparently, as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers also needed breakaways to decide their contest in Sunrise, Florida last night, and it was the Panthers coming away with a 2-1 victory when Nick Bjugstad waited out Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, holding the puck on his forehand and taking it wide as Andersen slid out on his belly to try to poke it away before lifting it top shelf for the game winner. Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, as the Maple Leafs have now lost two in a row after a six-game winning streak.
The NY Rangers bucked the shoot-out trend, however, crushing the Carolina Hurricanes 6-1 in Raleigh. Jesper Fast and Chris Kreider scored two goals apiece to lead the Blueshirts to the victory, New York's second consecutive win.
If watching a marathon of football is your thing on Thanksgiving, there's pigskins aplenty with three games on tap, starting with the red hot Minnesota Vikings taking on the Lions in Detroit in the early afternoon game. Around 430pm the Dallas Cowboys will host the Los Angeles Chargers, and if you're still awake after your heavy meal you can put yourself to sleep by watching the evening contest featuring the 2-8 NY Giants taking on 4-6 Washington.
