Men’s Basketball Flies By Newbury, 97-75

Box Score

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Elms College senior point guard Juan Maldonado (Holyoke, Mass.) drained a team-high 19 points to lead three Blazers in double figures as Elms topped Newbury College, 97-75 in Saturday afternoon’s New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men’s basketball game.

With the win, Elms concludes its regular season 19-6 overall, 12-2 in NECC action, while Newbury moves to 6-19 overall, 4-10 in league play.

Trailing 48-38 at halftime, Newbury scored nine of the first 15 points on the strength of a three-pointer by Timothy Young (Brockton, Mass.), a pair of jumpers from Corey Charubini (Hull, Mass.) and a bucket by Rondell Best (Brockton, Mass.) to pull the Nighthawks to within seven at 54-47 with 16:27 to play in the contest.

A layup by senior forward Austin Sylvia (Seekonk, Mass.) sparked a 12-0 Elms run, that saw Sylvia add another layup underneath, junior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) hit a jumper and swish two free throws, sophomore guard Luis Santiago (San Juan, Puerto Rico) convert 3 of 3 from the stripe, and junior forward Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) sink a free throw to give the Blazers a 66-48 lead at the 10:47 mark.

Maldonado struck from beyond the arc with 7:46 to play in the game to set the score at 75-52 and give Elms its largest cushion of the contest.

Trailing 87-67 with 3:55 to go, the Nighthawks scored five straight to pull to within 15, capped by a Samuel Stanford (Somerville, Mass.) trey, but that’s as close as Newbury would get as Elms closed out the game on a 10-3 run that culminated in a 22-point, 97-75 victory.

In the opening 12:55 of the first frame, neither team claimed more than a four-point advantage. A 7-2 run snapped a 29-29 deadlock at the 7:05 mark and gave Elms a 36-31 edge, before a layup by Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) pulled Newbury to within three at 36-33. The Blazers answered with 10 consecutive points and closed out the half on a 12-5 run.

Martinez finished with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor, while senior forward Javon Mathis (East Hartford, Conn.) netted 16 points and added a team-high nine rebounds.

Freshman guard Brittain Purcelle (Tarrytown, N.Y.) scored eight points, while Sylvia finished with seven points to aid the Blazers in the winning effort.

Young poured in a game-high 22 points, while Torres contributed 18 off the bench. Best collected a game-best 17 boards, while Stanford added 10 rebounds and dished out six assists in the losing effort to lead the Nighthawks.

Up next is the 2010 NECC Tournament.