There was a surprisingly large turn out for the men’s basketball first preseason game on Saturday November 4th, in the Patrick Gymnasium.

Scanning the crowd however, one would see a sea of purple shirts in the UVM Student Section, it seems supporters of the Purple Knights had less to do that afternoon than last year’s die-hard Catamount fans.

Despite the bleachers being overrun with students from St. Mike’s, the Catamount Tip-Off 2005 proved Vermont to be the superior team within the first 15 minutes.

From the get-go the Catamounts launched one offensive play after another, sophomore Timothy McCrory gained possession of the ball and would not rest until it was in the hoop. Moments later, freshman Colin McIntosh sunk a beautiful three-pointer giving Vermont a 17-7 lead.

St. Mike’s had the occasional breakaway and set up a few successful plays but they continued through the majority of the first half with a losing attitude, even though their screaming fans drowned out the Vermont cheerleaders’ attempt to pump up the Catamount crowd.

In the last five minutes, though, both teams experienced an intense adrenaline rush sending the ball up and down the court with each team picking up some well deserved points wrapping up the first half at 43-27 with Vermont in the lead.

The Catamounts came into the second half as a force to be reckoned with – setting up plays and keeping their cool in the defense, whenever the Purple Knights put on the pressure. With less than ten minutes left in the game, Vermont had a twenty-point lead. This is thanks in large part to the overall excellent performance on the part of freshman Guard Mike Trimboli who dished out eight assists, made four rebounds and three steals and shot nine for eleven from the foul line.

The end of the second half showed the same rise in intensity in the last four minutes as both teams scrounged for some last minute points ending the game with a easy-earned 82-59 victory for Vermont.

The game’s top scorers were juniors Martin Klimes and Chris Holm with fifteen and ten points and sophomores Ryan Schneider and Kyle Cieplicki with eleven and seven points. Still, according to Head Coach Mike Lonergan, today’s standout player was definitely “Mike Tromboli, the man he guarded was zero for six – he had a great all-around game.”

Lonergan also felt that the team played really well defensively after all Vermont shot 55.8 percent from the field while holding St. Mike’s to 39.2 percent, “we did a good job guarding [James] Sorrentine,” Sorrentine is not only the younger brother of Vermont starter TJ Sorrentine but also the Purple Knight’s leading scorer from last year.

This game also showed that the team has a lot of work to do to be ready for its first America East Game against New Hampshire in December.

First and foremost, the team “needs to get healthy and work on our offensive game-we missed a lot of easy shots.”