Moore Nets Career-High 17 in Hawks' 82-56 Setback at Vermont

BOX SCORE

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team could not recover from a 25-0 Vermont run in the first half and fell to the Catamounts by an 82-56 final on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks fall to 4-7 in the America East (4-19 overall) while the Catamounts improve to 9-2 in the league and 15-10 overall.

It was a tale of two halves from Patrick Gymnasium however as the Hawks turned things around coming out of the halftime break. After netting just 18 points in the first 20 minutes, Hartford picked up the offense and kept pace with its opponents. The Hawks also cut down on turnovers in the final stretch, committing just six in the second half after recorded 12 to start the game.

Rookie Yolonzo Moore II made his first six shots of the game and connected on his first three attempts from behind the arc to lead all scorers with 17 points, a career-high, on 6-of-9 shooting. Genesis Maciel added 13 points and handed out four assists, matching a career-best, while Andres Torres rounded out the Hawks' top scorers with 11 points. Torres also grabbed five rebounds, joining teammate Wes Cole in leading Hartford's rebounding effort.

It was a low scoring affair to start the game as each team grinded out just two points apiece with 15:15 left in the opening half. Both teams were plagued by cold shooting as Hartford and Vermont combined to shoot 3-of-24 – 11.1 percent – to kick off the afternoon.

Just over eight minutes in, the Catamounts got things started and pulled ahead, 9-3, before a three-pointer by Wes Cole brought the score to 9-6. Vermont then used a 6-0 run to build its lead to nine points at 15-6 with 10:04 left in the first.

Sophomore Oren Faulk would cut the deficit to seven with a lay-up at the 9:46 mark. Unfortunately for the Hawks, that would be the end of their offensive output for a long stretch as the Catamounts clamped down defensively and started to heat up offensively.

The Catamounts dominated the boards and surged ahead of the Hawks with a 25-0 run, including four three's, to stretch their lead to 32 points – it's largest advantage of the game – at 40-8 with 3:11 to play in the first. Hartford ended its scoring drought with a pair of free throws by Andres Torres at 2:56 and Yolonzo Moore II notched his team's first bucket in almost seven minutes with a 10-footer.

The Hawks closed out the stanza with back-to-back three-pointers by Baker and Genesis Maciel to enter the intermission down 43-18.

After shooting just 25 percent (6-of-24) in the first, Hartford caught fire out of the locker room and shoot over 70-percent over the first 10 minutes of the stanza. Moore and Maciel both heated up, combining for 23 of their team's first 26 points of the half. Moore poured in 13 during that stretch while Maciel added 10.

Despite the scoring surge, the Hawks could not muster up stops on the opposite end. Hartford closed out the second half shooting 45.8 percent to finish at a clip of 35.4 percent on the afternoon. Vermont, which cashed in on 21 points from three throw line in 34 attempts, shot 42.9 percent and outrebounded its opponents, 47-35.

The Catamounts had 11 different players contribute to their scoring, led by Sandro Carissimo's 16 points. He totaled eight rebounds, a game-best.

Hartford wraps-up its three-game road stretch with a trip to Baltimore to face the UMBC Retrievers on Tuesday evening. The Hawks benefited from hot shooting and a strong performance on the defensive end to cruise to a 74-57 victory in the two teams' last meeting on Jan. 17 at Chase Arena. Hartford and UMBC will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.

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