Southern Vermont College Fends Off Men’s Basketball, 85-79

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) poured in a team-high 23 points and led five Blazers in double figures, but Southern Vermont College used a game-high 25-point effort off the bench from sophomore DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) and the Mountaineers erased an eight-point second-half deficit to secure an 85-79 victory in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 1-5 on the season, 0-1 in NECC play, while Southern Vermont improves to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in league action.

In the opening stanza, neither team built more than a five-point lead and after Elms' senior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) hit the front end of two free throws with 37 seconds remaining in the half to set the score at 39-37 in favor of the Mountaineers, sophomore Antoine White (Germantown, Md.) hit a layup with 15 seconds left to give Southern Vermont a narrow 41-37 edge at intermission.

Buchanon exploded for 18 points in the first half swishing 5 of 11 from the floor and hitting 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Hamlet was equally impressive in the frame, connecting on 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 3 from the charity stripe en route to 15 first-half points.

The Blazers came out firing in the second half as Buchanon knocked down a trey at the 18:04 mark to pull Elms to within one at 45-44 before freshman forward Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.) powered in back-to-back layups to give Elms a 48-45 lead.

Ihearahu continued his hot shooting early in the second half and gave the Blazers their largest lead of the contest (eight points) at the 14:49 mark when he delivered a layup to set the score at 54-46.

Hamlet interrupted the surge with a step-back three-pointer and ignited a 16-6 run for Southern Vermont, capped by a layup from Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Md.) allowing the Mountaineers to reclaim the lead at 62-60 with 9:24 on the clock.  

Southern Vermont mounted its largest lead of the game with Olugbile drained a jumper at the 7:22 mark to give the Mountaineers a 69-62 cushion, but Odunlami answered with a strike from long-distance to pull the Blazers back to within four.

Trailing 81-77 following a pair Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) free throws with 26 ticks on the clock, Elms' junior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) drove to the hoop and converted a layup to bring the Blazers to within two ta 81-79 with 20 seconds left in the contest. Hamlet then made a layup to set the score at 83-79 with 11 seconds on the clock and after Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) secured a critical offensive rebound and was fouled, he made the ensuing free throws to secure Southern Vermont's 85-79 victory.

Lockett finished with 18 points, while Odunlami picked up a double-double with 15 points and a game-best 11 rebounds. Ihearahu added 11 points and six boards, and sophomore guard Derek Murphy (Columbia, Md.) chipped in 10 points including a pair of three-pointers.

Senior guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) dished out five assists and Buchanon added four helpers in the losing effort.

Elms hit 50-percent of its shots were stellar from beyond the arc hitting 38.5-percent from three-point range.

Southern Vermont hit 41.7-percent from the field led by Hamlet's 25 points on 9 of 19 shooting, while Olugbile netted 21 points. Taylor finished 5 of 11 from the field and 3 of 7 from long distance en route to 19 points and Izzy Melton (Silver Spring, Md.) added nine points.

Hamlet pulled down nine rebounds and Olugbile added eight boards in the winning effort.

Elms is back in action on Thursday, December 5 when it travels to Rhode Island College for a 7:00 p.m. non-league tilt.