Daniel Webster College Pulls Away to 77-63 Win Over Men’s Basketball

NASHUA, N.H. – Elms College senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) swished a game-high 21 points on the strength of 5 of 7 shooting from beyond the arc, but Daniel Webster College had four players score in double figures as the Eagles posted a 77-63 win over the Blazers in Wednesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game in Nashua, N.H.

With the loss, Elms moves to 15-9 on the season, 13-2 in conference play, while Daniel Webster improves to 11-13 overall, 7-8 in league action.

After battling back and forth throughout the opening stanza, Daniel Webster used an Alberto Acosta (Lawrence, Mass.) layup as time expired to give the Eagles a slim 34-33 lead at intermission.

A Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) strike from three-point range opened the scoring in the second half, but Elms quickly responded when sophomore guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) made a layup and junior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) knocked down a pair of free throws to even the game at 37-37.

Back-to-back treys by French gave Elms a 45-44 lead with 15:33 to play, and a pair of free throws from freshman guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) extended the lead to five (50-45) with 12:39 to play, but the Blazers could not push their lead any further. The Eagles erupted for 10 straight points highlighted by a John Hickson (Springfield, Mass.) trey as Daniel Webster notched a 55-50 lead at the 10:35 mark.

Two free throws by Elms' senior guard James Black (Baltimore, Md.) narrowed the Blazers' deficit to five at 59-54 with 8:35 remaining in the contest, but a layup by David Feinstein (Londonderry, N.H.) and a Jose Allen (Amherst, Mass.) three-pointer allowed the Eagles to stake a 64-54 lead with 7:13 to play and Daniel Webster maintained at least an eight-point cushion for the rest of the game.

Buchanon finished with 10 points, while Black added eight points to lead Elms' scoring behind French's 21 points. Sophomore forward Kenneth Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) led the team with six rebounds.

Daniel Webster was led by Hickson who scored 18 points. Allen contributed 13 off the bench, followed by 12 from Heredia and 11 from Feinstein as the Eagles hit on 50.9-percent of their shots from the field, and were 7 of 17 (41.2-percent) from long distance.

Daniel Webster also led the rebound battle, claiming 47 boards to the Blazers' 29 led by a Hickson's game-best 12 boards. Five other players hauled in five boards.

Elms is back in action on Saturday, February 16 when it hosts Newbury College in the regular season finale at 4:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.