Written by Ernie Casanova
HARTFORD, CT– It was the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the XL Center in Downtown Hartford today, and the festivities were kicked off by a matchup between the Florida State Seminoles and the Vermont Catamounts. It was sure to be a fantastic weekend of College Basketball here in Connecticut with teams such as Purdue, Murray State, and Villanova also in attendance to compete. Vermont made a solid statement in today’s matchup as to why they deserved to be here but fell short as they ran out of gas. Florida State defeated the Catamounts 76-69 to advance to the second round on Saturday
Vermont won the tip-off and didn’t hesitate to get the ball rolling early. They quickly drained a two-pointer off a G Ben Shungu jumper and got out to a 5-0 lead after Ernie Duncan drained a three-pointer and had the entire XL Center on their feet. It was visible that a pro-Vermont crowd was present, considering they only traveled just a couple of states down, but the Seminoles weren’t shaken just yet. FSU C Christ Koumadje hammered down a dunk to give the Noles their first points of the game and after falling to a 10-4 deficit, Noles guard M.J Walker hit a three that slowed down the Catamounts for a couple of minutes.
Each team traded buckets early surprisingly as the Seminoles are considered by some as Final Four favorites. Still, the game was here and they had to get by a Vermont team that was ready to ball out. After Florida State secured an early 21-16 lead, your regular basketball enthusiast would say “ there we go, game over”. Vermont just wasn’t on the same page.
Guard Anthony Lamb hit a three-pointer from the outside left as the Catamounts were making it rain from all over the arena. Just as you would think the Seminoles were assembling a groove, Vermont would answer back quickly as Everett Duncan hit one of his own again right after Lamb. Still, the Noles along with coach Leonard Hamilton wasn’t ready just yet to be ran out of town with an early upset exit. Both teams went into the half tied 27-27 as we had a great contest on our hands.
At the start of the second half, Shungu began right where he left off with a three-point jumper from the outside center. It was 30-27 and the arena got louder and louder as Vermont just had trouble missing shots. With high expectations for Florida State to win, Vermont was giving them a run for their money all game. This Seminoles team did all they could, but it was obvious that they are just too tough of a squad. After Ernie Duncan hit another three of his own a couple of possessions later, both teams traded shots back and forth for the next 10 minutes. Vermont guard Stef Smith nailed a three-pointer to bring the score to 50-48, but the Seminoles began to turn it up a notch. After a couple of substitutions from each team, it was starting to become a reality for Vermont. They began to ease up as the Seminoles started to pull away, but it was one heck of a fight for an America East Conference team heavily rated as the underdog. The Seminoles went on an 8-3 run to build a late lead and it was all over from there. No Cinderella story today, but it was awfully close.
Lamb led Vermont in scoring with 16 points on 4-13 shooting with eight rebounds and three assists, with Smith having 15 points on 6-14 shooting, going 3-5 from beyond the arc with six rebounds. Ernie Duncan had 15 points on 5-6 shooting from three, with Shungu notching 13 points. Vermont shot 50% from three point line and 43% from the floor, but only 54% from the charity strike. They committed 16 turnovers compared to the Seminole’s seven which is the main factor why FSU outscored them 16-8 in second-chance points. For Florida State, Mfiondu Kabengele led the team with 20 points on 6-13 shooting and nine rebounds, with guard Terrence Mann sitting behind him with 17 points and eight rebounds.
