Playing a College of Saint Rose squad that qualified for the last two NCAA tournaments in division two, the St. Michael's Purple Knights men's basketball team scored one of their most impressive wins of the year, topping their Golden Knight counterparts 70-64 at the Ross Sports Center in Colchester.
Levi Holmes the Third poured in 32 points and was a perfect twelve for twelve from the free throw line as the Purple Knights rode a 19-2 second half run to gain the lead for good and hang on for the win, their fifth of the year and second against a Northeast 10 conference opponent.
Senior Derek Cheatom and junior Jordan Guzman were also in double figures, contributing eleven and ten points respectively in a back and forth game that was tied six times and had seven lead changes before the big second half run that helped the Purple Knights put the game away, and with his 32 point effort, Holmes passed another Purple Knights legend, Matt Bonds, on the school's all-time points ladder, now on the 13th rung for most points in St. Mike's history.
Elsewhere in men's college hoops, Shooting 54% from the floor and getting everyone involved in the offense, the University of Vermont cruised to a 73-49 victory over the Maine Black Bears in Bangor last night.
Robin Duncan and Anthony Lamb each scored eleven points as UVM improves to 12-4 on the season and with two wins in a row now against America East opponents.
To the pros, and while not much has come easy for the Boston Celtics this season, they did enjoy a rout of their own last night, a 135-108 won over the Indiana Pacers, Boston's fourth victory in a row.
The game was so lopsided that coach Brad Stevens had the luxury of resting all-star guard Kyrie Irving for the entire fourth quarter, after he contributed 12 points. The key to Boston's recent success has been better ball distribution. The Celtics as a team recorded 32 assists last night and it showed up with Marcus Morris scoring 22, Jaylen Brown matching that total, and Jayson Tatum added 20 along with 14 from Gordon Hayward to delight a hometown crowd that's been waiting all season for this year's team to assert itself as one of the league's best.
There's still a ways to go on that front, with Boston looking up at four teams ahead of them in the eastern conference standings, but it must be encouraging that one of those teams is the Pacers.
Finally, the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame announced the inductees for its latest class of athletes yesterday in a ceremony at the Tarrant Center at St. Michael's College. The new class includes the former St. Mike's basketball player the center is named for, Rich Tarrant, the Purple Knights all-time points leader and the school's only first-team All-American.
Other names include Gale "Tiger" Shaw, an alpine skier at Dartmouth who competed in two Olympic games, and claims nine U.S. national championships.
Also from the ski world, Ann Battelle will be inducted. She's a four-time U.S. Olympian with three top 10 finishes at the Games, and the Williston native also holds two World Cup titles and two U.S. national titles.
Holly Reynolds of Morrisville, a four-time Vermont high school state champion in golf who also holds a record nine state Amateur championships.
Jenny Everett of Rutland will be in the Hall for her excellence in field hockey as an All-American at Rutland High School in the 1990's who also went on to compete in the US National program and World Cup.
Harmon ‘Beaver’ Dragon will also make the Hall joining his brother Bobby for stock car racing. The Milton native won more than 50 races in his career, including back-to-back NASCAR North Tour titles.
All 13 inductees will be officially enshrined into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame April 13th.
