Men’s Basketball Races Past Connecticut College, 96-69

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior forward Javon Mathis (East Hartford, Conn.) struck for a game-high 19 points and hauled in a game-best eight rebounds to help pace the Blazers to a convincing 96-69 victory over Connecticut College in Tuesday evening’s non-conference men’s basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

Elms has now won four straight contests to improve to 12-5 on the season. Connecticut College slips to 7-11 with the loss.

Elms bolted to an early 10-3 advantage over the first 4:51 of the first stanza and extended that lead to 11 when freshman guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) nailed a three-pointer to set the score at 19-8 at the 12:51 mark of the opening period.

Leading 35-26 with 4:33 to play in the frame, junior guard Robert Hargrove (Detroit, Mich.) drained a trey that fueled a 16-8 run that saw Elms post a 17-point cushion of 51-34 at intermission. Mathis capitalized on a Connecticut College turnover with a dunk, and added a pair of layups to highlight the stretch.

Mathis finished with 12 of his 19 points during the first 20 minutes.

Elms quickly upped its advantage to 28 points on the strength of an 11-0 run highlighted by a jumper from Mathis, a trey and a jumper from sophomore guard Bryant Corcoran (Wolcott, Conn.), a layup by senior point guard Juan Maldonado (Holyoke, Mass.) and a free throw from junior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) to lift the score to 62-34.

The Camels received a put-back from Demetrius Porter (Virginia Beach, Va.) and a three-pointer from Rob Harrigan (Milford, Conn.) to cut the lead to 62-39, but Elms scored 16 of the next 23 points thanks to a pair three-pointers by senior forward Antoine Holder (Hartford, Conn.), a dunk by Hargrove and trey from Maldonado that increased the lead to 32 at 78-46 with 13:09 to go in the contest.

Trailing 82-53 at the 10:12 mark, Porter converted a pair of layups to bring the score to 82-57. Elms’ freshman guard Brittain Purcelle (Tarrytown, N.Y.) connected on bucket down low before Boris Jeremic (Rijeka, Croatia) hit from beyond the arc to bring Connecticut College to within 24 at 84-60 with 8:01 remaining.

The Blazers struck again, this time for a 12-3 run that produced their largest lead of the game (33 points) of 96-63 with 1:51 to go in the contest. Mathis executed a put-back and hit a free throw, and freshman guard Anthony Samuels (Philadelphia, Pa.) hit a three-pointer, while sophomore forward Michael Walker (Mitchellville, Md.), freshman forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) and freshman forward Jamal Hulum (Reston, Va.) each added a basket during the span.

Connecticut College ended the game with a 6-0 run behind a pair of free throws from both Conor Sheehy (Syosset, N.Y.) and Mike Lehane (Taunton, Mass.), and a jumper by Bobby Bellotti (Winchester, Mass.).

Elms shot 52.1-percent from the floor in the game, and received double-digit outputs from Maldonado and Holder who scored 17 and 16 points respectively in addition to Mathis’ 19.

Fifteen of Maldonado’s 17 came from beyond the arc as the Blazers shot 45.8-percent from three-point range.

Hargrove finished with nine points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field, while French distributed a game-high six assists in the winning effort.

Elms capitalized on 25 turnovers by Connecticut College, scoring 29 points off the Camels’ miscues.

Porter finished with 17 points, Harrigan drained a trio of three-pointers to finish with 11 points, and Sheehy contributed 10 points off the bench for Connecticut College in the losing effort.

Elms returns to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Thursday, Jan. 28 with a road contest at Daniel Webster College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Nashua, N.H.