Gonzalez, McDaniel Score 21 Each as Men’s Basketball Tops Castleton State College, 84-77

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) and junior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) each netted a team-high 21 points and the Blazers fended off a late surge by Castleton State College to seal an 84-77 victory in Thursday afternoon's non-conference men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms has now won six of their last seven games to improve to 6-4 on the season. Castleton State moves to 4-6 overall.

Trailing 57-47 with 12:37 left in the game, Castleton State used a 15-5 run that featured a trey each from Mark Comstock (Rutland, Vt.), Doug Krouse (Reading, Pa.) and Keith Schneider (Benson, Vt.) to help the Spartans pull even with Elms for the first time since the 18:11 mark of the first half and set the score at 62-62 with 8:42 to play.

Gonzalez answered the run with a three-pointer of his own and the Blazers scored 11 of the next 13 points, including a swish from beyond the arc by junior guard Charles Bason (Riverdale, Md.) to give Elms a nine-point 73-64 edge with 6:26 on the clock.

Castleton State kept the deficit to single digits as Comstock drained another three-pointer with five minutes left before the Spartans pulled to within three on a bucket underneath by Schneider to set the score at 76-73 and cap a 9-3 run over a five minute stretch.

With 59 seconds left in the contest, Blazers' senior guard Bryant Corcoran (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a jumper and then stole the ensuing in-bounds pass by the Spartans. Bason was fouled and connected on two free throws to give Elms a seven point cushion, 80-73 with 36 seconds left. The Blazers again stole the in-bounds pass keeping the Spartans on defense.

Following a missed free throw attempt by Elms, Comstock converted a layup to narrow Castleton State's gap to 80-75 with 20 seconds left, but a pair of Gonzalez foul shots extended the lead back to seven.

The Spartans' Matt Cooney (Washingtonville, N.Y.) delivered a layup with seven ticks on the clock to again pull Castleton State to within five, but Elms' junior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) found a sprinting McDaniel on the in-bounds pass who capped the scoring with a layup with just two seconds left to give Elms an 84-77 victory.

McDaniel was stellar from the floor knocking down 10 of 18 shots en route to his 21 points and added eight rebounds, while Gonzalez found his touch from three-point land, drilling five three points in nine attempts to also finish with 21 points in the winning effort.

Corcoran was the Blazers' third player in double figures with 12 points and added four assists, while Bason was a presence distributing the ball dishing out a game-high eight assists in addition to scoring eight points.

French finished with five assists, while junior guard James Black (Baltimore, Md.) chipped in seven points and rejected a pair of Castleton State shots.

Comstock was spectacular despite the loss, scoring a game-best 25 points including 17 in the second frame going 10 for 13 from the field.

Cooney added 13 points on the strength of 7 of 9 shooting from the charity stripe, while Schneider totaled 11 points in the losing effort.

Elms sprinted to a commanding 16-2 lead over the first 5:45 of the first half and led by as many as 19 points to help stake a 42-33 lead at halftime.

The Blazers finished the contest shooting at a 52.4 clip and were 37.5-percent from three-point range, while Castleton State was limited to just 29.0-percent from long distance despite taking seven more attempts.

Elms returns to league play on Saturday, Jan. 7 when it travels to Cambridge, Mass. to take on Lesley University at 6:00 p.m.