Bangor – Over the first two and a half minutes of Sunday’s men’s game at Eastern Maine Community College, the Golden Eagles ran off nine unanswered points and extended their lead to 18-0 in the first five minutes. Those would prove to be the most important minutes of the game as EMCC had to hold off a late rally by Vermont Tech to pull out a 67-57 victory for their 14th consecutive win since a 2-point loss to Paul Smiths on opening day.
EMCC's Kyle Pluchino (23) looks for an outlet pass while being defended by Vermont Tech's Josh Patterson (33) and Alex Tyrrell during the second half of the mens game in Bangor on Sunday afternoon. EMCC won the game 67-57. Photo by Skip Hawkes
Mid way through the first period, the Knights went on a 9-2 run to cut the Eagles lead to 20-9. EMCC kept the charge going and led 34-20 at the buzzer. It was a balanced offensive effort by the Eagles, with four players scoring six points each and one other having five points.
The Eagles shot 54 per cent from the floor in the first period, including 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Thelbert Green, Steve Eskau, Jeff Dubois, and John Caputo each had six points, and Michael Baltimore added five points.
The Knights shot just 28 per cent from the floor (8-28) in the first period including 1-for-6 from 3-point territory. They were led by Kevin Carr with nine points in the period.
In the second period, the Eagles led by 20 points (46-26) with 11:36 left in the game. The Knights put together a couple of good runs, and seven minutes after trailing by 20 they found themselves down only four points at 56-52. The Eagles went on the final run of the game, 11-5, over the final four minutes to hold off the Knights and come away with the win.
Green scored 17 points and both Caputo and Eskau had 14 points to pace the Golden Eagles. Green added two assists and two steals. Caputo had nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Eskau added nine boards and three assists in the game. Baltimore scored nine points with six rebounds, and Dubois added eight points. Kyle Pluchino scored three points and had four rebounds with a game high nine assists. Brian Bolduc chipped in with two points and added five rebounds.
EMCC went 27-for-52 (52%) from the floor in the game. They went 5-for-11 from behind the arc with two 3-pointers from Dubois and one each by Green, Baltimore, and Pluchino. They went 8-for-15 (53%) from the free throw line.
Carr topped all scorers with 25 points to lead Vermont Tech. He also added three rebounds and five assists. Alex Tyrrell scored 14 points and had five assists, and Josh Lindsey had eight points with three rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Josh Patterson added four points and five boards, and Cody Chamberlain had four points with four rebounds. Lucas Dutil had two points, four rebounds and two steals.
The Knights went 19-for-53 (36%) from the floor, and they were slightly better from behind the arc going 5-for-13 (38%). Carr had four 3-point baskets and Tyrrell added one. They went 14-for-26 (54%) from the foul line.
EMCC had the edge in rebounds 49 to 30, but turned the ball over 20 times compared to the Knights 15 turnovers.
VT (11-9) 20 37 — 57
EMCC (14-1) 34 33 — 67
