Men’s Basketball Tops Lesley University, 68-49

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Elms College junior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) scored a game-high 14 points and senior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) contributed 13 points off the bench as the Blazers topped Lesley University, 68-49 in Saturday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game in Cambridge, Mass.

With the win, Elms improves to 7-4 overall, 2-0 in league play, while Lesley slides to 3-7 on the season, 0-3 in conference action.

Elms shot 41.7-percent from the field, held Lesley to just 29.6-percent shooting from the floor, and out-rebounded the Lynx 48-28 led by a 10-board effort from junior David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.). The Blazers also used 32 points from its bench to stake its 19-point victory.

With the score knotted at 8-8 with 11:16 to play in the opening period, Elms used a 19-6 run highlighted by a pair of triples from junior guard Walter Mfuko (Amherst, Mass.) who finished with nine points off the bench to give the Blazers a 27-14 lead with three minutes to play in the first half.

Both teams scored five points to close out the half with the score 32-19 in favor of Elms.

Following intermission, Elms scored 18 of the first 24 points over the first 6:52 to start the second stanza to post a commanding 50-25 advantage.

Bryant Itonyo (Medford, Mass.) nailed a three at the 12:42 mark to spark a 17-9 run that pulled Lesley to within 17 at 59-42 with 4:09 remaining but a strike from beyond the arc by French extended the Blazers' lead back to 20 at 62-42 and allowed Elms to pull away to a 68-49 win.

McDaniel finished with eight points in addition to his game-high 10 rebounds, while junior forward Jamal Hulum (Reston, Va.) chipped in eight points of his own and notched seven boards.

French was impressive directing the Blazers' attack dishing out eight assists and recording six steals while leading all scorers with 14 points. Gonzalez scored his 13 points connecting on 5 of 8 from the field including a pair of three pointers, while French and Mfuko added two deep buckets each.

The Lynx were led by Kris Bennett (Las Vegas, Nev.) who tallied a team-high 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field, while John Sanchez (Carson, Calif.) scored 11 points on the strength of 7 of 9 shooting from the charity stripe.

Itonyo added nine points while Bennett grabbed seven rebounds in the losing effort.

Elms returns to NECC action on Tuesday, Jan. 10 when it hosts Becker College at 6:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.