Courtesy Siena Sports Information

ALBANY, NY – Darren Payen scored a game-high 17 points off the bench to lead America East preseason favorite Vermont past Siena Basketball 76-60 in the Saints’ 2016 and non-conference finale at the Times Union Center. Red-shirt senior forward Brett Bisping posted his fourth double-double of the season, and 22nd of his career, in pacing Siena with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Trae Bell-Haynes added 16 points for Vermont (9-5) which defeated Siena (4-9, 1-1) for the seventh consecutive season. Anthony Lamb, Kurt Steidl and Dre Willis added identical stat lines of eight points and six rebounds for the Catamounts which held a 40-31 advantage on the glass in becoming the first team to out-rebound the Saints in the past 10 games.

Sophomore guard Nico Clareth scored 10 points, and freshman forwardSammy Friday contributed a season-high six points in 11 spirited minutes off the bench for Siena which finishes with a final non-conference record of 3-8. Nine of the Saints 11 non-conference opponents currently sport .500 or better records, with those nine teams combining to post a 76-41 (.650) record entering play today.

Vermont led for the final 26 minutes after breaking a second first half tie with six straight points to claim a 27-21 lead late in the opening stanza. The Catamounts led 36-30 at the break.

Siena scored the first four points of the second half to pull back within as close as two, and trailed by just five with 15:11 to play. But Vermont embarked upon an 11-2 run to open a 14-point advantage with 11:10 remaining and maintained its double digit lead the rest of the way.

Now 9-5 on the season the Catamounts will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule when they host Harvard on Monday night at the Patrick Gym.