Men’s Basketball team can’t keep up with top conference opponent

   The University at Albany men's basketball team learned Saturday that the road to supremacy in the America East conference will likely have to go through Vermont.

   For it was the Catamounts' smothering defense coupled with the Great Danes sheer inability to hit their shots that spelled doom for Albany, as they fell 63-54 to break a three-game winning streak.

   It was an exceptionally disappointing night for the Danes as had they taken home the victory, they would have been in a tie for third place in the conference with Boston University in addition to being over .500 in league play.

   But it was not to be as Vermont (16-5, 7-2 AE) came out with a stellar second half performance led by two of their numerous weapons, Brian Voelkel and Evan Fjeld. Voelkel, who leads the America East in rebounding, showed why he is opening eyes throughout the league as he held the Danes off with his tough play, snatching 11 rebounds despite not scoring a point.

   Fjeld, sporting a thick 70's-era mustache, was a presence the Danes (11-13, 4-5 AE) were unable to handle all night. He hit shot after shot from mid-range in addition to using his 6'8" frame to muscle through the defense to cap the night with 19 points, five rebounds and three blocks.

   Albany hung with the Catamounts in the first half, spreading the ball around and cutting what was at one point a ten-point Vermont lead to four at halftime.

   In the second half, with the Danes down 45-40, the Catamounts sprung off a 12-0 run to break the game open and put it effectively out of reach for UAlbany.

   "I thought we were extremely impatient and selfish offensively," said coach Will Brown. "Then we had a lull there where our refusal to maintain any type of patience offensively led to easy baskets for them."

   The Danes were ultimately brought down by that inability to produce offensively, as a brutal day from behind the three-point arc became the theme of the game.

   Albany went an astonishingly bad 2-for-15 from three-point range to go with a 20-for-59 day from the field for an overall dismal 33.9 percentage.

   "We don't have the tough mind set that when shots are being missed that we're just going continue to get stops. Our defense is good when we're making a lot of shots, our defense is good when we're making some shots but when we're not making any shots our defense goes south quick," Brown said.

   The team's three best players all had rough shooting days, with Logan Aronhalt shooting 4-for-14 and Tim Ambrose going 6-for-15. Point guard Mike Black struggled throughout the game, shooting 3-for-9 to go with a pair of turnovers at key points in the game.

   "We just had to come out and get stops and run our offense through, but we didn't do that tonight," said Ambrose, who finished the game with 16 points.

   Vermont coach Mike Lonergan used his talented squad to frustrating degrees for the Danes as the Catamounts rotated through their bench to give Albany fits in coverage.

   Guard Brendan Bald led Vermont with 20 points on the night, going 4-for-5 from three-point range, consistently shooting daggers to extend the Catamounts lead.

   "I thought we did a really good job on Ambrose and Aronhalt and guarding the three-point line in particular," Lonergan said. "We didn't really outrebound them very much but I thought we made a lot of really good defensive plays."

   The Danes will look to recover on Wednesday when they play a pivotal game against New Hampshire, who currently sits at the bottom of the conference standings.