French Nets 26 as Men’s Basketball Tops Daniel Webster College, 98-86

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) scored a game-high 26 points on the strength of five three-pointers, and sophomore guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) hit 10 of 10 free throws and finished with 16 points as the Blazers downed Daniel Webster College, 98-86 in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms has now won five straight and eight of its last nine games and improves to 11-8 on the season, 9-1 in NECC action. Daniel Webster falls to 8-11 overall, 4-6 in conference action.

In the first half, Elms posted a 27-16 lead capped by a pair of Simpson free throws with 8:08 to play before Daniel Webster used back-to-back-to-back three-pointers including two from Ryan Gauthier (Nashua, N.H.) and one from Jose Allen (Amherst, Mass.) to pull the Eagles to within two at the 7:02 mark.

After a David Feinstein (Londonderry, N.H.) foul shot at the 3:14 mark set the score at 34-30 in favor of the Blazers, French and Feinstein exchanged three-pointers in consecutive possessions and Elms then used a strike from beyond the arc from freshman guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) to give the Blazers a 40-33 lead with 2:32 remaining in the frame.

Buchanon, French and senior forward Jamal Hulum (Norfolk, Va.) each added a bucket underneath and junior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) canned a trey as Elms outscored the Eagles 12-0 over the final 2:44 of the period to take a 49-33 lead into intermission.

French sank three of his triples in the first 20 minutes and totaled 13 points, while Buchanon added nine points in the stanza.

Elms scored nine of the first 12 points in the second half as Odunlami opened the period with a trey and sophomore forward Kenneth Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) capped the run with a jumper to give the Blazers their largest lead of the contest (17 points) and set the score at 58-36 with 17:07 remaining in the game.

A trey by Daris Cosby (Columbia, S.C.) halted the run and sparked a ferocious comeback attack by the Eagles that featured six more strikes from beyond the arc during the second half.

Trailing 67-45 with 13:36 on the clock, the Eagles exploded for a 15-0 run highlighted by a pair of triples from Allen, and one from John Hickson (Springfield, Mass.) to narrow Daniel Webster's deficit to seven (67-60) with 10:30 to play.

Hulum then hit two free throws and Hickson and Odunlami traded three-point baskets to keep the score at nine points (63-72) with 9:21 remaining before Elms began to pull away using a Lockett layup and Odunlami free throws at the 7:13 mark to help the Blazers reestablish a double-digit advantage.

The Eagles kept the game within reach and lowered Elms' advantage to 93-83 with 1:10 left before Cosby delivered a deep swish from three-point land to narrow the gap to 93-86. However, that's as close as the Eagles would get as senior forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) hit one of two foul shots, while French and senior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) each hit two free throws to help Elms seal a 98-86 victory.

Simpson and Odunlami each finished with 16 points for the Blazers who shot 42.3-percent from the floor, 40.9-percent from long distance, and 78.4-percent from the stripe in the win. Lockett added 12 points to give Elms four starters in double figures, while McDaniel finished with eight points.

Odunlami and Lockett played well on the boards as Odunlami collected a game-high 10 rebounds with Lockett pulling down nine boards.

McDaniel finished with seven boards, Hulum chipped in eight points, French dished out five assists and notched six steals, and Buchanon added six rebounds to help seal the win.

The Eagles were led by a 22-point effort that included 4 of 4 shooting from three-point range by Allen. Gauthier added 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting from the field and Cosby added 14 points in the loss.

Hickson hit three treys and totaled nine points, while Rufus Louf (Salem, Mass.) and Aiden Collins (Paterson, N.J.) both came off the bench to secure eight boards.

Daniel Webster shot 51.7-percent from the floor and 48.1-percent from deep. Hickson and Gauthier combined to dish out nine assists.

Elms returns to NECC action Thursday, Jan. 31 with a 7:00 p.m. game at Becker College in Leicester, Mass.