Men’s Basketball Falls to Newbury College, 69-62

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Elms College freshman guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) scored a team-high 11 points and senior center Carson Miller (New Oxford, Pa.) connected for 10 points and eight rebounds, but Newbury College's Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) poured in a game-high 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to help the Nighthawks secure a 69-62 victory over the Blazers in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game.

With the loss, Elms moves to 6-8 on the season, 5-1 in NECC action, Newbury improves to 7-6 overall, 5-0 in conference play.

With the score deadlocked at 57-57 with 5:13 left in the contest, Newbury notched a 12-5 run to close out the game with a 69-62 victory.

Trailing 62-59, Blazers senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) delivered a layup at the 1:01 mark to pull Elms to within one at 62-61, but Newbury's Eric Watson (New Rochelle, N.Y.) converted on 3 of 4 free throws and Anthony Bonelli (Narragansett, R.I.) converted all four of his attempts from the foul line to help secure the win.

The Blazers shot 38.8-percent from the field, led by Buchanon's 11 points, while Miller and senior forward Jamal Hulum (Norfolk, Va.) chipped in 10 points each. Miller, who was 5 of 8 from the floor, also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and sophomore forward Kenneth Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) followed suit with eight boards of his own.

Sophomore Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) dished out four assists and French recorded six steals in the losing effort.

Bernard led the Nighthawks with a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds, Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Mass.) contributed 17 points and Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) finished with 13 points, while Bonelli was Newbury's most efficient player on the glass with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Watson and Bonelli combined for 15 points and Steve Rosemond (Everett, Mass.) passed out four assists to help guide the Nighthawks to a 44.6-percent shooting clip.

Elms raced out to a 10-3 lead in the opening 4:39 of the contest before Newbury clawed back to stake a 20-20 tie with 7:44 to play in the first half. The sides then battled to a 27-27 stalemate before Young swished a trey and Watson and Thompson added layups to help the Nighthawks post a 34-33 lead at intermission.

The second half saw continued back-and-forth action that included three tie scores and three lead changes before Newbury mounted its final 12-5 run over the final 5:13 of the game.

Elms is back in conference action on Thursday, January 17 when it hosts Becker College at 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.