Lamb jumper makes Vermont 4-0 with 70-68 win at St. John’s

NEW YORK -- Anthony Lamb drilled a jumper between two defenders with two seconds left to lift Vermont to a 70-68 win over St. John’s in a battle of previously unbeaten teams in a campus site first-round game of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament Saturday afternoon.

Vermont now is 4-0 for the first time since the 1977-78 season and the Catamounts are 28-1 against New York schools (Marist, Hofstra, Siena, St. Bonaventure, Albany, Binghamton, Stony Brook and St. John’s) since the start of the 2016-17 season.

Vermont led 66-59 with less than a minute to play. Mustapha Heron scored at the basket and added a free throw to cut the lead to four points with :39 left, then drilled a 3 with :30 remaining to make it a one-point game. Everett Duncan hit to free throws to push Vermont’s lead to 68-65, but with :19 left Rasheem Dunn hit a 3 to tie the game at 68-68.

Lamb got the ball at the 3-point arc coming out of a Vermont timeout, faked his solo defender twice, then drove to the elbow of the free-throw line and put a soft jumper up over two collapsing defenders for the game winner.

The Red Storm (3-1) called an immediate timeout, but LJ Figueroa turned the ball over with a second left.

Lamb, named to the Julius Erving Award watchlist for the nation’s top small forwards, finished with 23 points on 10-of-26 shooting while grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing five assists. Duncan and Stef Smith each added 17 points. The Catamounts now have had a player record a double-double in all four of their games.

Figueroa, who is also on the Erving Award list, scored 14 points and grabbed 10 boards. Heron also added 14 points, Dunn contributed 13 points and Josh Roberts added eight points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

St. John’s plays at Columbia in a second-round tournament game Wednesday.

Vermont travels to Virginia for its second-round game Tuesday.