Men’s Basketball Tops Springfield College, 69-59

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Elms College junior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) netted a team-high 21 points and junior forward Jamal Hulum (Norfolk, Va.) added a double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) off the bench to help drive the Blazers to a 69-59 victory over Springfield College in Saturday afternoon's Pioneer Valley Classic men's basketball game at Blake Arena.

With the win, Elms wins its second straight to improve to 2-3 on the season, while Springfield drops its second contest in a row to fall to 5-2 overall.

Trailing for the majority of the game, Springfield pulled to within five at 62-57 when Alex Berthiaume (Springfield, Mass.) swished a three-pointer with 44 seconds left. Elms' junior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) made a layup to put the Blazers ahead by seven points and was then fouled on the Pride's ensuing possession and hit two free throws to extend the lead to 66-57 with 24 ticks on the clock.

Springfield's Pat Rossi (Rock Tavern, N.Y.) delivered a layup with 15 seconds left to pull the Pride back to within seven but Elms' junior guard Charles Bason (Riverdale, Md.) hit 3 of 4 from the foul line to cap the Blazers' 10-point, 69-59 victory.

Bason finished with 12 points that included 6 of 8 from the free throw line, while McDaniel added eight points, 10 rebounds and a pair of swats. Elms shot 42.4-percent from the floor including a 48.3 clip in the final 20 minutes to help seal the victory.

The opening 9:39 featured three lead changes and two tie scores with neither team owning more than a five point advantage.

Trailing 18-13 at the 11:21 mark, French scored a bucket in the paint to ignite a 15-1 run by the Blazers highlighted by seven points from French, six from Hulum, and a basket by senior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) to help Elms stake a 28-19 lead with 5:42 to play in the first half.

A dunk by Rossi one minute later, and a layup by Berthiaume at the 3:39 mark allowed the Pride to narrow the gap to five on two occasions but Elms was able to post a 32-26 halftime edge.

Elms scored nine of the first 16 points to increase its lead to 10 points over the first 4:48 of the second stanza before Springfield began to chip away at the lead.

Berthiaume converted a three-point play on a layup and a foul shot to start a 9-2 run for the Pride that was capped by a layup by Nick Sienkiewicz (Cranston, R.I.) that pulled Springfield to within three at 45-42 with 11:46 remaining in the contest.

Springfield later got to within four (49-45 at the 7:33 mark) before a trey by Gonzalez and a layup by junior forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) extended the cushion back to nine (54-45) with 5:13 on the clock.

Over the next 4:16 Elms maintained at least a six point lead before Berthiaume fired Springfield's final salvo – a triple with 44 seconds remaining – to pull the Pride to within five.

Berthiaume poured in a game-high 25 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the floor (7 of 9 from charity stripe), dished out three assists and recorded three steals in the losing effort.

Berthiaume was the Pride's lone double-digit scorer as Jordan Rote (Sheffield, Mass.) and freshman guard Josh Altman (Rockport, Mass.) finished with seven points each.

Elms outscored Springfield off the bench, 17-13 led by Hulum's 6 for 8 effort, while the Blazers edged the Pride 46-39 in rebounds and 15-7 in points off turnovers.

Elms returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 6 when it travels to Regis College for its New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) opener. Game time is 7:30 p.m. in Weston, Mass.