Men’s Basketball Sails by Mitchell College, 87-61

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) netted 12 points off the bench and the Blazers' reserves netted 54 points to help post an 87-61 victory over Mitchell College and secure head coach Ed Silva's 200^th career victory in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 12-7 on the season, 7-3 in conference play, while Mitchell falls to 5-13 overall, 3-9 in conference play.

Elms shot 45.6-percent from the field for the game, including a 48.6 clip in the first 20 minutes en route to a 40-20 lead at intermission.

Gonzalez dropped in three treys in the first half, while junior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) scored eight of his 10 points in the first frame to help Elms post a 20-point lead after one period of play.

The Blazers maintained at least a 16-point cushion through the second half until the 8:16 mark when  Mitchell's Austin Floyd (Largo, Fla.) swished a three-pointer to pull the Mariners to within 14 at 61-47 but that's as close as Mitchell would get as Elms used a 14-2 run over the next 2:44 to extend its lead to 75-49 with 5:34 to play. From there the Blazers rolled to an 87-61 win.

McDaniel and junior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) finished with 10 points each, while junior forward Jamal Hulum (Reston, Va.) added nine points and tied for the team-high in rebounds with six.

Gonzalez's 12-point effort off the bench was followed by freshman forward Kenny Lockett's (Atlanta, Ga.) who scored eight points, while sophomore guard Dustin Trail (East Hartford, Conn.) tallied seven points.

Freshman guard Piere Simpson (Middletown, Conn.) added six points, while French and freshman guard Jacob Abel (Fairfield, Calif.) combined for eight of Elms' 20 assists in the winning effort.

Blazers' sophomore forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) was stellar on the glass notching six rebounds as Elms topped Mitchell, 52-30 in boards.  

Ford was the leading scorer for Mitchell with 12 points, while Enoch Contreras (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Terrence Fisher (Richmond, Va.) added 10 points apiece in the losing effort.

Ford added a game-high seven rebounds, while Zachary Hoch (Fishers Island, N.Y.) added eight points off the bench.

Elms returns to NECC action on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Newbury College at 2:00 p.m.