Men’s Basketball Surges Past Daniel Webster, 93-80

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior point guard Juan Maldonado (Holyoke, Mass.) dropped in a game-high 22 points on the strength of six three-pointers to help the Blazers secure a 93-80 victory over Daniel Webster College in Thursday evening’s New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men’s basketball game at Mario Vagge Gymnasium.

Elms extended its winning streak to five games to improve to 13-5 overall, 6-1 in league play, while Daniel Webster slipped to 5-10 on the season, 1-4 in NECC action.

Trailing 77-70 with 5:39 remaining in the contest, Daniel Webster’s Chris Hanson (Salem, Mass.) drained a three-pointer to pull the Eagles to within four at 77-73. Elms’ senior forward Javon Mathis (East Hartford, Conn.) converted a pair of layups and senior forward Antoine Holder (Hartford, Conn.) added a basket of his own in the paint to extend the lead back to 10 at 83-73 with 4:05 on the clock.

With the score set at 85-75 at the 3:22 mark, Elms used a 7-2 run to post a 15-point cushion at 92-77 with just 51 ticks remaining. Hanson swished another trey for the Eagles, but a Maldonado free throw with 26 seconds left and a swipe by senior guard Arsenio Avant (Southwest, Fla.) 10 seconds later secured the victory for the Blazers.

In the opening period, the sides battled to six lead changes and a 28-28 deadlock, before a mid-range jumper by junior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) sparked an 11-3 run by Elms. Maldonado connected on a pair from beyond the arc, while sophomore guard Bryant Corcoran (Wolcott, Conn.) added a layup and Holder hit the back-end of a pair of free throws to give the Blazers a 39-31 edge with 1:42 to go in the first frame.

Daniel Webster responded with a 7-2 run of its own when Eric Suarez (Salem, Mass.) sank two from the charity stripe and executed a layup, and John Hickson (Springfield, Mass.) added a layup and made the ensuing free throw to complete a three-point play, cutting the Elms’ lead to three with 29 seconds left. From there, Holder punched in a layup to give the Blazers a five-point lead at the intermission.

Maldonado scored 17 of his 22 points in the opening frame, hitting five of his six treys in the first 20 minutes.

Holder poured in 19 points off the bench, while Martinez and Mathis added 17 points each in the winning effort. Holder added a game-best 14 rebounds, while Mathis added 10 boards to give the Blazers two players with double-doubles.

Senior forward Austin Sylvia (Seekonk, Mass.) contributed eight points and two blocked shots, while freshman guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) and Maldonado handed out four assists each.

Hanson led the Daniel Webster offense with 17 points, while Suarez finished with 15. Chris Voukides (Salem, N.H.) was a perfect 5 of 5 from the stripe en route to 13 points, while adding six assists for the Eagles.

Elms returns to conference action on Saturday, Jan. 30 when it travels to Boston, Mass. to take on Wheelock College. Game-time is set for 2:00 p.m.