BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell to The University of Vermont, 76-62, on Saturday, Dec. 22 at Patrick Gymnasium.  With the loss, the Knights fall to 4-6 on the year, while the Catamounts improve to 7-4.

After leading by one point at halftime, the Knights were outscored 43-28 in the second half.  Vermont's Luke Apfeld paced all players with 15 second-half points and 26 total points to lead the Catamounts to the win.

Senior Melquan Bolding (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Bishop Stepinac) topped FDU scorers with 20 points on the day.  Lonnie Robinson (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) added 14 points, while Kinu Rochford (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) put up 12 for the Knights.  Rochford led the team on the glass with seven rebounds.

A three-point shot by Robinson started the game for FDU.  Shots from Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and Bolding helped the Knights take a four-point lead early in the contest, which would be their greatest lead of the first half.  FDU maintained the lead for a period of time but saw retaliation from Vermont midway through the half.

A 9-2 run gave the Catamounts the momentum, and a 30-23 lead with 4:46 to play.  The Knights went on to outscore UVM, 11-3, in the final minutes of the half.  A last-second jump shot by Bolding gave the Knights a 34-33 lead as time expired.

The Knights outshot the Catamounts 55.6 percent to 48.3 percent over the first 20 minutes.

Apfeld's second-half showoff started immediately when he single-handedly outscored the Knights, 6-2, in the first two minutes of the second half to give Vermont a brief lead.

Sparked by a layup by Rochford, the Knights produced eight unanswered points to take their largest lead of the game, 44-39, with 15 minutes left to play. 

The Catamounts responded quickly with a 10-point run to take back the advantage.  They maintained the lead through the remainder of the game. 

Vermont extended its lead to a game-high 16 points in the final minute of play and took the win, 76-62. 

The Catamounts outshot FDU 69.2 percent to 39.3 percent in the second half for an overall shooting percentage of 58.2.  The Knights shot 47.3 overall, including a 42.9 three-point shooting percentage. 

The Knights were outrebounded, 34-24.  With eight assists from freshman Sekou Harris (Plainfield, N.J./Plainfield High School), the team dished out 15 assists, with 11 turnovers. 

FDU will break for the Christmas holiday before traveling to Virginia to take on VCU and Longwood on Dec. 29 and 31.  Following the Virginia road trip, the Knights will start Northeast Conference action at Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 3.