In men's college hoops, a thrilling road win for the St. Michael's men's basketball team was secured when Levi Holmes III knocked down a fadeaway jumper with just four seconds left in overtime, the game winning shot in the Purple Knights 82-81 victory over Assumption in Worcester, Mass. last night.
Holmes finished with a double double of 17 points and ten rebounds, no shot bigger than the fadeaway in the lane that gave St. Mike's its third win of the season against three losses.
Holmes is the Purple Knights star player but he got plenty of help last night from teammates who had career highs in the win, including Essex Junction native Eli DiGrande, who poured in 17 points to go with a career best 14 rebounds. Derek Cheatom led all scorers with 22 points.
The victory should boost confidence for a Purple Knights squad that has another regionally ranked for waiting for them Saturday when they visit Bentley University.
The St. Michael's women didn't fare as well against their Assumption counterparts, their second half comeback effort falling short in a 69-58 loss, but Nicole Anderson had a big game for the Purple Knights, scoring a career high 19 points.
Former Rice Memorial star Ben Shungu recorded his best game as a UVM Catamount, scoring a career high 13 points to help UVM overcome a shaky second half and nail down a 69-53 win against George Washington last night.
The Catamounts took a double digit lead into half time but the Colonials clawed back to tie the game late before Shungu knocked down a free throw and then sparked the decisive UVM rally, an 18-0 run to put the game away. Anthony Lamb poured in 16 points to go with nine rebounds and four blocks for the Catamounts, who improve to 4-3 with the win.
The Castleton Spartan men lost their first Little East conference game last night, falling to Plymouth State 87-76 at Glenbrook Gymnasium.
The Spartans did get a huge game from senior Tank Roberson, who scored 27 points to lead all scorers and dished out eight assists. Michael Morgan tallied a career-high 13 points but the Spartans fall to 3-3 with the loss.
However, the Castleton women did record the Spartan's first ever Little East conference victory with a 55-41 win over Plymouth State.
Brooke Raiche led all scorers with 19 points and took down a game-high eight rebounds as the Spartans improve their record to 5-1 on the year while snagging that first-ever Little East conference win.
To the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs were doing fine even without star center Auston Matthews in the line-up, but they'll be even better now that he's back. Matthews returned to the ice last night after missing 14 games due to an injured shoulder and all he did was score two goals and assist on another in the Leaf's 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Finally, any hopes for an American to become the world's champion of chess since Bobby Fischer claimed the title in 1972 were dashed when Norway's Magnus Carlsen defeated American Fabiano Caruana in three time limited games played yesterday in London.
The tie-breaker format was needed after the two grand masters played 12 straight regulation games that all ended in draws, but Carlsen defended his title by winning the first two of the faster paced tie breakers, and Caruana resigned from the third.
