Candon Rusin scored 18 points as Vermont defeated Yale 65-52 Wednesday night in the home opener for the Catamounts.
Brian Voelkel pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for Vermont, which has won 19 of its last 25 home openers.
The lead changed six times in the first half before Yale's Jesse Pritchard hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 19 with 2:08 left before intermission. From there, Vermont (3-1) rattled off seven straight points to go into halftime up 26-19, and continued that run in the second half to hold a 39-25 lead with 10 minutes left.
Voelkel, who broke Vermont's single-season assist mark with 184 last year, finished with the three assists needed to move into eighth place among the Catamounts' all-time leaders.
Michael Grace led Yale (1-5) with 12 points while Austin Morgan, the Bulldog's leading scorer (13.2 points), was held to zero points on 0-of-6 shooting.
