The Vermont mens basketball team became the sole spot holder of the second place position of the America East conference after they beat the Albany Great Danes 50-43 on the Danes home court this past Saturday January 26.

The win improved the Catamounts standings to 13-7 overall and 6-2 in the America East standings. The Catamount victory caused Albany to fall 16-6 and 6-3 in the conference, dropping them down to the five spot in the America East standings.

Great win for us tonight on the road, weve been struggling on the road, head coach John Becker said in an interview with WPTZ. To come in to 4000 plus people here today it was a great college atmosphere. I thought the kids played really hard and they made the plays.

Junior forward Clancy Rugg earned his third career double-double in the game with a total 14 points and 10 rebounds. He has filled in rather nicely for junior forward Luke Apfeld since his lower leg injury from earlier in the season. The injury will leave Apfeld out of play for another two to four weeks, missing a long series of America East play.

We decided that it was the right time to take a few weeks to get healthy again, Apfeld said in an interview with WCAX earlier this month.

Since his debut on the starting lineup, Rugg has averaged 17.8 points per game. He has reached double figures in a span of six straight games and has had another two double-doubles in a span of three games.

Rugg was named the America East Player of the Week last week after the win against team rival the Stony Brook Seawolves.

First-year forward Ethan ODay scored 14 points while racking up four rebounds and three blocks. Junior guard Sandro Carissimo scored 13 points alongside teammate junior Candon Rusin who netted 10.

Vermonts stifling defense held the Great Danes to 6-for-27 shooting from the field in the first half. The Catamounts shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half. The teams entered into the half with a score of 22-15 in favor of the men in the green and gold.

The Cats managed to hold onto their 11-point lead with 11:35 remaining in the second half, however six minutes later Albanys Mike Black led the Great Danes on a 17-5. Black added a personal 9 points to the teams run to steal Vermonts lead away at 39-38.

With just minutes left in the final half, Rugg hit a layup to take back the lead. Later, Rusin notched a three pointer as the shot clock expired to increase the lead to four points for Vermont.

The Catamounts hit multiple clutch free throws down the stretch, 5 of which came from Carissimo. The defeat pushed Vermonts winning streak over Albany to eight games.

Vermont is 56-16 in America East play since the 2008-09 season and 31-6 at home in conference action. The Catamounts have won 12 straight America East games at the Patrick Gymnasium and 16 out of their last 17 home league contests.

Vermont has the top scoring defense in America East and ranks 28th in Division I, allowing opponents just 58.7 points per game.

Brian Voelkelwas recently named the Most Outstanding Player at the America East Tournament after averaging 4.0 ppg, 7.0 apg, and 12.0 rpg in three tournament games. Voelkel was also named to the America East All-Conference Preseason Team for the second straight year and he has also been named to the 2012-13 Lou Henson Preseason All-America Team.

Next, the Catamounts return home for a matchup against the New Hampshire Wildcats next Wednesday Feb. 6. The last time the teams faced off earlier in the season, Rusin led the Cats to the 64-51 win as he scored a team-high 15 points in his America East debut.

New Hampshire holds an overall record of 5-14 this season along with a 1-6 in the America East. The Wildcats hold the eighth spot in the league out of the nine possible teams.