No. 16 Men's Basketball Rolls Past Wheelock, 96-68
NO. 16 ELMS COLLEGE ROLLS OVER WHEELOCK, 96-68
Box scoreCHICOPEE, MA, Jan. 13, 2009 - Senior guard Ronald Thomas (Chicago, IL) netted a team-high 15 points - all in the first half - and No. 16 Elms College used a second half run to pull away to a 96-68 win over Wheelock College in Tuesday night's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at the Maguire Center.
Elms College, ranked 16th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, is off to its best 13-game start in program-history as it improved to 12-1 overall, 2-0 NECC. Wheelock fell to 3-9, 1-1 NECC.
Thomas connected on 5 of 7 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers in 11 minutes of action in the first half. The Blazers shot only 38.9-percent in the opening half, but forced Wheelock into 20 first half turnovers to take a 41-32 lead at intermission.
From there, Elms College took command with a 24-11 run over the first 6:04 of the second half.
Junior forward Javon Mathis (West Hartford, CT) finished with 14 points in just 13 minutes and senior forward Antoine Holder (Hartford, CT) added 12 points in 12 minutes as only other players to reach double figures for Elms College.
The Blazers also used their superior depth to wear down the overmatched Wildcats, as Elms College held huge advantages in bench scoring (64-17) and points off turnovers (37-15).
Junior forward Sherard Robbins (Malden, MA) finished with a game-high 22 points and 15 rebounds in 28 minutes for Wheelock, which committed 39 turnovers.
Elms College returns to NECC play when it hosts Southern Vermont on Saturday, January 17. Tip-off is 2:00 p.m. at the Maguire Center.