Vermont towers over BC

Had this been the Vermont team of coach Tom Brennan, all-everything forward Taylor Coppenrath, and deep-shooting guard T.J. Sorrentine, who knows how bad it might have been?

As it was, the squad of second-year coach Mike Lonergan, one that returned all five starters from last year's young 13-17 team and was picked to finish third in America East, had all the firepower it needed to deliver Vermont another stunning victory against a ranked opponent from a high-powered conference (a la the first-round triumph over 11th-ranked Syracuse in the 2005 NCAA Tournament).

Last night, the Catamounts handed No. 14 Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference its first loss of the season, 77-63.

The Catamounts outshot (49.2 percent to 30.2), outrebounded (48-39), and generally outplayed and outhustled the Eagles before a stunned Conte Forum crowd of 5,035 that watched BC lose to an America East opponent for the first time since a 72-67 setback against Northeastern Jan. 5, 2003.

"It didn't matter who we played tonight, that's clear," said BC coach Al Skinner, whose team will have a week to regroup before traveling to Providence for a game against its former Big East brethren in which the Eagles will welcome back shot-blocking junior center Sean Williams from a two-game suspension.

"I don't want to take anything away from Vermont," Skinner said. "I mean, they played a good ballgame and they did what they had to do, but we weren't beating anybody tonight, not the way we played."

The Eagles (1-1) had no answers for sophomore guard Mike Trimboli, last year's America East Rookie of the Year, who led Vermont (2-1) with 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting (3 of 5 from the 3-point arc) or 6-foot-11-inch, 270-pound senior center Chris Holm, who chipped in a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds and generally had his way on the blocks against BC junior John Oates (6 points, 6 rebounds).

"I think Chris Holm had a huge game for us," said Lonergan, whose frontcourt of Holm, 6-8 senior forward Martin Klimes (9 points, 3 rebounds, 5 fouls), and 6-8 sophomore forward Colin McIntosh of Milton (5 points, 7 rebounds) seemed to dwarf BC's.

"I challenged him at the shootaround today and I don't think he was too happy about it," said Lonergan, whose team was coming off an 81-63 loss at Maryland. "I said, 'You should try to be an all-league player. You're a senior and you're going to be playing against a freshman and sophomore tonight.'

"So I thought he did a great job of clogging up the lane on some of their drives. He's 6-11 and I thought he was probably, to me, our MVP."

Jared Dudley clearly held that distinction for the Eagles, but his 19 points and 14 rebounds (10 offensive) went for naught on a night when BC fell behind early, got impatient on the offensive end, and hurried too many shots, resulting in a cold stretch of 7 minutes 16 seconds between baskets.

That enabled the Catamounts to break from a 17-17 tie and thrice lead by as many as 17 (37-20, 39-22, and 41-24) before Dudley hit a free throw, rebounded his errant second attempt, and tapped in a putback at the buzzer to pull BC within 41-27 at halftime.

BC shot only 27.3 percent in the first half (9 for 33, including 2 of 10 from the 3-point arc), while the Catamounts hit a sizzling 57.3 percent (15 of 26) and got 20 points in the paint.

Vermont held on when the Eagles came roaring back to pull within 9, 48-39, as Marquez Haynes converted a backcourt steal into a breakaway slam with 15 minutes left.

BC's momentum fizzled with a turnover, a pair of missed lane jumpers, two missed foul shots, and an errant trey on its next five possessions.

Vermont pulled away as Holm went to work inside and scored back-to-back baskets to spark a 10-2 run that expanded the lead to 17, 58-41, with 11:07 remaining.

That was too much to overcome for BC, a team in transition that suffered the first pang of growth in the nascent season.

"It's a loss, and you can take it two different ways," Dudley said. "You can regroup and go on and beat a good Providence team, or you can practice terrible for a week, go lose, and be 1-2 and go fishing.

"But I'm not going to allow this team to sink too far. It's a young team, and we are inexperienced but experienced in different roles, and it's going to take awhile."