News You Should Know: Jan. 10, 2018 AKI SOGA/FREE PRESS
HANOVER, N.H. - Cam Ward lived this nightmare every day, chasing Trae Bell-Haynes all over the court during practices their freshman year.
And after Bell-Haynes torched Dartmouth with a flawless 27-point showing on an assortment of euro-steps, coast-to-coast finishes and ankle-breaking, off-the dribble drives, Ward could only shake his head in approval.
Don't bet against Bell-Haynes and that extra gear.
"There is no one better in the country in transition, I would put a lot of money on that — once my eligibility is done and I can put money on things," Ward said.
The University of Vermont men's basketball team needed those Bell-Haynes after-burners — not to mention Ward's best game in two years — to fend off the Big Green's second-half charge in a 91-78 victory in front of 1,263 at Leede Arena on Wednesday night.
Bell-Haynes was perfect from the field (10 of 10) and the foul line (6-for-6) while Ward tossed in a season-best 14 points and five assists and Payton Henson dropped 20 points, also a season-high, as the Catamounts (12-5) had to rely on their highest output through 17 games to defeat Dartmouth for the 10th straight time in the series' 102nd meeting.
"Every year it’s a dogfight between us and Dartmouth. But credit to Dartmouth, they played harder than us, especially in the second half," UVM coach John Becker said. "Our percentages are still through the roof, but we outscored them tonight — that’s how we won."
With UVM ahead 43-30 at the break, Bell-Haynes was ready for an offensive outburst as the second half began.
As Dartmouth started to heat up from the outside, the flashy point guard from Toronto picked up the tempo and scored 13 straight Catamount points, the last coming on a three-point play off his signature runner in the lane.
That sequence gave UVM a 60-43 advantage with about 14 minutes to play.
"We were trading baskets and we couldn’t really find a stop, so we were trying to score as many times as we could," Bell-Haynes said. "It just so happened I had the ball and the coaches were drawing up some good plays and getting me in good spots to be successful. I was scoring, but it was the whole team helping me out."
But the Big Green kept coming, rattling off a 12-2 run and getting to within 62-55 on Taylor Johnson's tough drive with 10:51 to play.
Ward then hit a pull-up jumper, drove for an off-balance layup and found Drew Urquhart (eight points) for a slam over UVM's next three trips.
Dartmouth, though, had the answer, with leading scorer Miles Wright dropping a 3-pointer and Johnson getting free underneath off an inbounds play for a reverse layup, trimming the UVM lead to 68-62 with 7:12 to go.
The UVM advantage shrank to 70-65 on Johnson's third triple at 5:32, but Ernie Duncan canned a 3-pointer out of a timeout, and then Ward and Bell-Haynes put the game out of reach.
Ward hit a step-back jumper to return the margin to 10 points and later was in position to draw an offensive charge on Wright with 3:03 to go.
"I think when I came in I was one of the worst defenders in the country," Ward admitted. "I think I’ve grown a lot defensively and to take a charge for the team — it was a big moment."
Bigger than any of his jumpers?
"Coach Becker is listening, so that charge for sure. We really needed that," Ward said.
Becker said Ward's recent production has been a nice development.
"This is probably Cam’s best game in a couple years," Becker said. "He’s been practicing great and I’m so happy his shots are going and he found his confidence, found his role on this team it feels like."
Meanwhile, Bell-Haynes, the reigning America East player of the year, went to another level Wednesday night, Becker said.
"I haven’t seen him dominate a game like he did tonight. He always affects the game for us," Becker said. "He’s invaluable for us, but tonight he was unguardable and it’s been a while since I’ve seen him get loose like he did tonight and we kind of rode him once we realized.
"He was determined — every night he’s determined. He wills us to a lot of these type of wins."
Johnson finished with a team-high 17 points for Dartmouth, which shot 56.5 percent from the floor to UVM's 57.1. Miles (12), Chris Knight (12), Brendan Berry (12) and Will Emery (10) also hit double figures.
The Catamounts closed out their nonconference schedule with a 10-5 record, the same as last year, to tie a program record for wins in a single season.
UVM will look to go to 3-0 in league play when it plays host to Stony Brook on Saturday at 2.
Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aabrami5.
VERMONT 91, DARTMOUTH 78
VERMONT (12-5)
Urquhart 4-6 0-0 8, Henson 7-17 4-4 20, Er.Duncan 3-7 1-2 9, Bell-Haynes 10-10 6-6 27, Ev.Duncan 0-3 0-0 0, Patella 0-0 0-0 0, Dingba 1-1 0-0 2, Rohrer 2-3 0-3 4, S.Smith 2-8 0-0 5, Urso 0-0 0-0 0, Shungu 1-1 0-0 2, Ward 5-6 3-3 14. Totals 35-62 14-18 91.
DARTMOUTH (4-9)
Emery 4-4 2-6 10, Barry 4-7 2-2 13, Wright 2-4 3-3 9, Johnson 7-10 0-0 17, Rai 2-6 0-1 6, Knight 5-7 4-4 14, Jackson 1-4 0-0 2, Letoa 0-0 0-0 0, Sistare 0-2 0-0 0, C.Smith 3-4 0-1 7. Totals 28-48 11-17 78.
Halftime—Vermont 43-30. 3-Point Goals—Vermont 7-19 (Henson 2-3, Er.Duncan 2-6, Bell-Haynes 1-1, Ward 1-2, S.Smith 1-3, Urquhart 0-1, Rohrer 0-1, Ev.Duncan 0-2), Dartmouth 11-20 (Barry 3-3, Johnson 3-5, Wright 2-3, Rai 2-4, C.Smith 1-1, Sistare 0-1, Jackson 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Vermont 24 (Bell-Haynes 5), Dartmouth 23 (Jackson 7). Assists—Vermont 9 (Ward 5), Dartmouth 17 (Barry 5). Total Fouls—Vermont 17, Dartmouth 19. A—1,263 (2,100).