BURLINGTON, VT—Senior forward Evan Fjeld scored a game-high 25 points Saturday afternoon, leading Vermont to its fourth win in five games, a 69-50 defeat of visiting NJIT in non-conference men's basketball.

 

The Catamounts, a 2010 NCAA Tournament participant whose only loss this season came on the road against national power Connecticut, were in control most of the afternoon against the Highlanders.

 

NJIT (1-3) had difficulty producing any spurts, due in part to Vermont's defense and the Highlanders' spotty perimeter shooting in the half-court.

 

Vermont's scoring came in spurts, but the bursts were plentiful enough to keep the Highlanders at a distance for most of the afternoon and eventually to pull away in the latter portions of the second half.

 

Fjeld, who shot 10-for-15 from the field; plus 5-for-5 at the foul line, scored 10 points in the first half and 15 in the second half, carrying the UVM offense for significant stretches over the final 20 minutes. Junior Matt Glass added 15 points, 13 of which came in an explosive first half.

 

Freshman forward Brian Voelkel scored just 2 points, but he pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, leading his team to a decisive 42-27 advantage on the boards against the smaller Highlanders.

 

NJIT had three double-figure scorers, led by Isaiah Wilkerson, who netted 14 points and connected on 6-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from distance. Freshman Lamar Kearse, who continues to impress, came off the bench for 10 points, shooting 4-for-8. All 10 of his points came in the first half, as he accounted for half of NJIT's scoring in the opening period. Jheryl Wilson added 10 points for the Highlanders.

 

Wilson and Wilkerson were the top rebounders for NJIT, grabbing five apiece.

 

Vermont, which had slogged its way to a 51-48 win the last time out against Loyola (MD), jumped to an 8-0 lead in the first 1:27 against the Highlanders, with Glass scoring five of the eight points.

 

However, NJIT kept its cool and answered with a 9-0 run of its own—seven points from Kearse—before Brendan Bald hit a three-pointer for UVM, breaking a dry spell of 4:44 and putting the Catamounts on top to stay.

 

Bald's trey sparked a 15-0 Vermont run, capped by a Glass three-pointer that made it 23-9 with 8:47 left in the first half.

 

Vermont's lead stayed in double-digits until Kearse hit a jump shot for NJIT with 35 seconds left in the half, pulling the Highlanders to within nine, at 29-20. But Fjeld made a jump shot with a second left in the period for the 31-20 UVM halftime lead.

 

Vermont got 23 of its 31 first-half points from the duo of Glass (13) and Fjeld (10). As previously noted, Kearse had 10 of NJIT's 20 first-half points. Vermont was already showing its dominance of the boards in the first half, 23-15, and the Catamounts shot 5-for-9 on three-pointers, while NJIT was 1-for-10.

 

Trailing by 11 at the half, the Highlanders opened the second half with a three-pointer from Wilkerson, but the junior captain, who had one foul in the opening period, picked up two quick whistles and went to the bench with three fouls at the 17:56 mark.

 

Vermont eventually got its lead up to 15 and still led by 14, 47-33, when NJIT had one of its few stretches in the game where it was able to run and scored seven unanswered points, closing to 47-40 on Wilson's fast-break layup with 11:02 remaining.

 

That was as close as the Highlanders would get, however, as they scored just two points over the next 8:41.

 

Meanwhile, Vermont, which did not attempt a free throw in the first half, but shot 11-for-13 at the line in the second half, made four straight free throws, and senior guard Joey Accaoui, who hadn't scored before in the game, drained three-pointers on back-to-back possessions at 7:55 and 7:05, extending the Vermont lead to 57-40.

 

Wilson finally scored for NJIT with 6:45 left, but Fjeld made a conventional three-point play and Simeon Marsalis made a three-pointer and then a pair of free throws on successive possessions, giving Vermont its biggest lead of the day, 65-42, with 3:35 left.

 

Wilkerson, by then playing with four fouls, scored seven of NJIT's last eight points over the final 3:21, helping to close the final deficit to 19 points.

 

NJIT, which is in the most difficult stretch of its non-conference schedule, will visit Rutgers on Wednesday at 7:30 pm.