No. 22 Nevada Holds Off Vermont in Cats Home Opener

By Bruce Bosley, UVM Athletic Communications Office

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

A hot start and 24 points by Marcellus Kemp allowed 22nd-ranked Nevada to hold off Vermont, 77-62, in men's college basketball at Patrick Gym on Wednesday night.

Nevada (2-0) hit its first eight field goal attempts in the contest and never trailed. Several times a gritty effort by the Catamounts, paced a career-high 24 points by Martin Klimes (Prague, Czech Republic), would come back but were held off by the Wolf Pack.

The loss, in front of its 16th straight sellout crowd of 3,266, was the first at home for Vermont (0-3) and it was the 11th straight road victory for Nevada. It also marked the first time since December of 1978 that UVM hosted a ranked opponent at Patrick Gym.

"It has been the same story all season long," said first-year Vermont Coach Mike Lonergan after his first game at Patrick Gym. "We battled hard but came up short at the end. I am real happy with our effort and how we competed, and I can't say enough about our fans."

After surviving Nevada's early barrage, Vermont battled back and a three-point play by Klimes capped a 7-2 run that cut the Wolf Pack lead to 25-19 with 7:41 left before halftime. The teams played it even the rest of the half as Nevada took a 35-30 lead to the locker room.

A low post bucket by Klimes and a three-pointer by Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.), brought Vermont to within three, 38-35, two minutes into the second half before Nevada began to pull away. After trailing by double-digits for a long stretch, the Catamounts again battled back and a 3-pointer by Rob Sisca (Weston, Conn.) made it a 59-53 game with 7:41 to go. Nevada's defense would then hold UVM without a field goal for the next five minutes to close out the youthful Catamounts.

"We had two key players sick but we were able to gut out a win," said Nevada coach Mark Fox. "Give credit to Vermont for a great game plan and they really hustled. They made some big shots and Klimes is much more physical and more skilled than last season. He never takes a play off. Mo Charlo did a great job on the boards for us and Marcellus gave us a huge lift off the bench.

Charlo came through with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to pick up for 6-foot-11 junior standout Nick Fazekas, who scored 20 points but had only three boards in 27 minutes. Nevada out-rebounded Vermont, 40-37, and shot 50 percent from the floor compared to 40 percent for the Catamounts.

Also for Vermont, Trimboli scored 19 points and had game highs of six assists and four steals in his Patrick Gym debut. Ryan Schneider (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) added six points on a pair of three-pointers and had a team-high seven rebounds.

Prior to the game, Vermont unveiled a banner honoring its 2005 America East Championship and trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Former coach Tom Brennan and graduated seniors Alex Jensen '05, David Hehn '05 and Germain Mopa Njila '05 were on hand for the pregame ceremony.

Vermont continues its three-game homestand hosting Wagner Saturday at 1:00pm at Patrick Gym. (Radio: WXZO 96.7 FM, WEAV 960 AM, WCVR 102.1 FM; Internet: www.sportsjuice.com). General admission tickets are available for all Vermont regular season home games at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office by calling 1-866-4-CAT-TIX. Tickets are also available on line at www.uvmathletics.com.