The men’s basketball team fought, and kept their number one America East standing on Wednesday, Jan. 31, with a win against the Wildcats of UNH 82-79.In the first half, senior for-ward Chris Holm went 5 for 5 in the paint, scoring 10 of his 24 points as well as pulling down some tremendous rebounds on both ends of the court. Sophomore Mike Trimboli and junior Kyle Cieplicki both knocked down two three-point-ers and field goals, adding a combined 16 points to the first half score.The 36-24 lead at the end of the first half was the largest Vermont would have for the rest of the game.UNH’s Blagoj Janev and Ty-rece Gibbs rallied the Wildcats to a comeback, scoring the first nine points of the second half, and tying the score 40-40 with 6:40 left in the game.A three-point shot from Gibbs would put the Wildcats ahead with 2:20 left in the sec-ond half. After four lead changes the Cat’s were down, but Trimboli hit a layup with 13 seconds left in regulation. UNH’s Jermaine Anderson had a chance to win it for the Wildcats, but missed a jumper with one second left, bringing the game into its first overtime period.Vermont trailed by four in the first overtime with 2:13 left on the clock. Junior Chad Pow-lovich then hit a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left and Holm’s layup 30 seconds later tied the game at 73. Anderson had another chance to score the winning basket for the Wildcats, but his jumper missed again and brought both teams into a sec-ond overtime.In the second overtime, Holm and Trimboli led the Cats, outscoring UNH 9-6. With five seconds left, Ver-mont led 80-79. America East Player of the Game, Janev was left open under the basket, but Holm came up with a huge block, leaving Janev on the floor and Trimboli with the rebound. Trimboli was fouled with .3 seconds left on the clock, and sank two foul shots to secure the win for Vermont, 82-79.”The second half was a real chess match after UNH came back, but I thought we did a great job getting the ball in to Martin Kilmes and [Holm],” Coach Mike Lonergan said after the game.Holm was named player of the game for Vermont and re-corded a double-double, with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Trimboli added 26 points, five rebounds and six assists while senior Martin Kilmes scored 12 and Cieplicki recorded 10.”I think the crowd helped us and I hope they come back Mon-day,” Lonergan said.Janev led the Wildcats with 26 points in the contest.The Cats, now 8-1 in Ameri-ca East, will take on Boston Uni-versity at Patrick Gym at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5.