Men’s Basketball Falls to No. 25 SUNY Cortland, 85-59 in NCAA Division III Championship First Round

CORTLAND, N.Y. – Elms College senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) and sophomore forward Kenneth Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) each poured in a team-high 16 points, but No. 25 SUNY Cortland used a 20-point effort from Lamard Herron (Westbury, N.Y.) off the bench to lead four players in double figures as the Red Dragons used a strong second half surge to best the Blazers, 85-59 in Saturday afternoon's NCAA Division III Championship First Round men's basketball game at Corey Gymnasium.

With the loss, Elms concludes its season with an 18-10 overall record, while Cortland improves to 24-4 and advances to the second round of NCAA postseason play.

French was 6 of 17 shooting from the floor and 3 of 9 from beyond the arc en route to 16 points, while Lockett hit on 7 of 11 from the field to score his 16 points. Senior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) canned three triples and finished with 13 points and pulled down a game-best eight rebounds.

Elms shot 35.4-percent from the floor and connected on just 6 of 20 from three-point range (30-percent) in the losing effort.

Cortland was led by Herron's 8 of 10 effort in reserve, followed by Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) who hit on 5 of 9 including three three-pointers to highlight a 19-point showing. Jeremy Smith (Bronx, N.Y.) added 15 points on the strength of a trio of swishes from long range and Kevin McMahon (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) scored 11 points, while he and Herron also collected a team-high seven rebounds each in the winning effort.

The Red Dragons hit on 50-percent of its shots from the field and drained 12 of 27 from the beyond the arc (44.4-percent).

After posting a five-point lead after 20 minutes (38-33) of play, Cortland exploded for 47 points in the second half. Leading 50-41 following a Lockett layup at the 14:19 mark, Smith was fouled on a three-point field goal attempt and knocked down all three free throws to spark a 22-4 run that set the score at 72-45 with 6:21 remaining in the game.

Brian Manning (Elmira, N.Y.) netted a pair three-pointers and Harrison Hefele (Greenlawn, N.Y.) added his own trey to highlight the run that gave Cortland its largest lead of the game (27 points) and pull away to the victory.

Elms led just once in the game – at the 17:04 mark of the first period when McDaniel swished a pair of free throws to make the score 7-5 in favor of the Blazers.

The Red Dragons led by as many as 11 in the opening stanza (26-15) following a pair of made free throws by Garen Spendjian (Glen Cove, N.Y.).