No. 12 Men's Basketball Downs Newbury
NO. 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL DOWNS NEWBURY, 108-86
CHICOPEE, MA, Feb. 21, 2009 - Elms College sophomore guard Dan Gonzalez (East Windsor, CT) netted a team-high 17 points and the 12th-ranked Blazers set a new program-record with their 24th win of the year in a 108-86 victory over Newbury College in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon at the Maguire Center.
Elms College (24-1, 14-0 NECC), ranked 12th in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, tied a school-record with its 14th straight victory and finished undefeated in the inaugural season of regular season conference play.
The Blazers earned the No. 1 seed in this week's NECC Tournament and will receive a first round bye. Elms College will now host the conference tournament semifinals and championship next Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28. The Blazers will play in Friday's 6:00 p.m. semifinal against an opponent to be determined.
Despite its fifth straight loss, Newbury (7-18, 4-10 NECC) clinched the sixth and final spot into this week's conference tournament by virtue of its head-to-head tiebreaker over Southern Vermont. The Nighthawks will play in Tuesday night's first round against an opponent to be named.
In Saturday's victory, the Blazers ripped off a 10-2 run in the game's opening 2:20 while forcing the visiting Nighthawks into nine turnovers in their first 10 possessions.
Elms College led 35-17 12:56 into the game before Newbury settled in and responded with a 15-7 run over the next six minutes to cut the deficit to 42-32.
The Blazers answered with an 8-2 run over the final 76 seconds of the half, capped off by a pair of 3-pointers by Gonzalez, to take a 50-34 halftime lead.
Newbury used an 11-5 run over the first 2:09 of the second half to pull to within ten (55-45), but the Blazers put the game out of reach with a 22-12 run over the next 5:42 to build a 77-57 lead.
Gonzalez finished 6 of 9 from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range in only 10 minutes.
Sophomore guard Juan Galdon (Holyoke, MA) scored 16 points, senior forward Malakie Berry (Enfield, CT) scored 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting, junior forward Javon Mathis (West Hartford, CT) netted 12 points in 12 minutes and senior forward Ellis Jones (Roxbury, MA) added 10 points to all reach double figures in the victory.
Sophomore guard John Rowley (Hartford, CT) led all scorers with 23 points and junior guard Samuel Stanford (Somerville, MA) added 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc for Newbury.