February 25, 2012

Knights Upend #1 Seeded Eastern Maine in YSCC Playoffs

Defense stifles Golden Eagles

Vermont Tech

Eastern Maine CC

Final

Vermont Tech

Eastern Maine CC

The Knights seized control of the YSCC semi-final match-up against #1 seed Eastern Maine from the opening tip-off and literally cruised to a 67-50. Eastern never led in the game.

Kevin Carr started the Knights off with two straight three point shots. The score was 6-0 with less than a minute played and the Knights continued to build the lead from there. At the half, the Knights were up by 11 points . With ten minutes to play the lead was 17. For the remained of the game, VTC put the game on ice by executing a disciplined ball control offense. EM never threatened.

Kevin Carr led the way with 25 points. Alex Tyrrell added 14 (?) and Lucas Dutil chipped in with 11.

"The story of this game was our defense," said Coach Dyer afterwards. "We asked a lot of our guys today and they delivered on every defensive possession. EM is a really good team. They are solid at every position. We knew this would be a challenge. I'm so proud of how our guys stepped up. You won't see lots of points in the boxscore next to Jhason Clark, Eko N'Bouke, Cody Chamberlin and Josh Lindsey today, but those guys played with such incredible heart. Every one of them deserves a game ball. This was a defensive win—a real team effort."

Eastern Maine is ranked #3 nationally in the USCAA coaches poll. Just prior to the tournament, the Golden Eagles had already received an at large bid to the USCAA National Championship tournament. The Knights, currently ranked #13 in the coaches poll, know that they need to win the YSCC Championship Tournament to earn a berth in the USCAA National Championship Tournament. "Our guys really want to make a return visit to Nemocolin. How often to college kids get to stay in a five star hotel? Seriously, the USCAA National Championship Tournament is a real thrill for the student-athletes. Only ten teams earn a berth. This has been our goal all season. We'll see how it goes tomorrow."

Vermont Tech will square off against traditional rival New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) in the championship game at 2:00. This will be the third time the two schools have faced off in the championship round in the past seven years. NHTI has the edge, 2-0. "It would sure be nice to get past the NHTI logjam this year," commented Coach Dyer. "They looked incredibly strong in their semi-final win against UMaine Machias. We'll have to play our best game of the year to beat them."