No. 12 Men's Basketball Leaps By Lesley
NO. 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL
LEAPS BY LESLEY, 90-59
The Blazers tie school-record of 23 wins
CHICOPEE, MA, Feb. 19, 2009 - Elms College junior guard Juan Galdon (Holyoke, MA) and senior forward Ronald Thomas (Chicago, IL) netted 14 points apiece and the 12th-ranked Blazers forced 34 turnovers en route to a 90-59 win over Lesley University in Thursday night's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at the Maguire Center.
The Blazers (23-1 overall, 13-0 NECC), ranked 12th nationally in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, extended their win streak to 13 straight.
Elms College, which already clinched the inaugural NECC regular season championship, will receive a first round bye in next week's conference tournament and will host the semifinals and championship next Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28.
In Thursday night's win over Lesley (5-19, 2-11 NECC), the Blazers scored the game's first 10 points and held the visiting Lynx scoreless until junior guard Matt Grassa's (Everett, MA) 3-pointer 3:50 in.
From there, however, it was all Elms College, as the Blazers shot 47.8-percent (22 of 46) in the first half while limiting the Lynx to just eight field goals in the opening 20 minutes to roar out to a commanding 56-26 lead at intermission.
Elms College, which scored seven unanswered points in the first 81 seconds of the second half, would lead by as many as 40 with 4:25 remaining.
The Blazers outscored the Lynx 42-18 in the paint, 40-18 off turnovers and 57-10 off the bench as 15 of Elms College's 18 players would eventually score in the victory.
Senior forward Malcolm Andrews (Medford, MA) finished with a game-high 16 points and sophomore center Jesus Trejo (Methuen, MA) posted the game's only double-double with 12 points and 18 rebounds for the Lynx.
Elms College concludes regular season play when it hosts NECC-foe Newbury on Saturday, February 21. Tip-off is 2:00 p.m. at the Maguire Center.