Men’s Basketball Downs Wheelock College, 84-71

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) scored a game-high 24 points on 12 of 13 shooting from the field to lead four Blazers in double figures as Elms notched an 84-71 victory over Wheelock College in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

With the win, Elms improves to 5-8 on the season, 3-2 in NECC play, while Wheelock moves to 0-11 overall, 0-4 in conference action.

Elms was superb shooting from the field hitting 55.9-percent of its shots highlighted by Lockett's 12 for 13 effort. Sophomore guard Derek Murphy (Columbia, Md.) followed with 23 points on 7 of 12 from the floor and 4 of 5 from three-point range and senior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) totaled 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting to give the Blazers three players with 20-plus points.

Guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) added 13 points, dished out seven assists, and recorded five steals, while Lockett finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, followed by nine boards from Odunlami.

Wheelock also put up stellar shooting numbers hitting on 46.4-percent of its attempts from the field led by a 22-point effort from Anthony Williams (White Plains, N.Y.) and 21 points from Paul Coucci (Dartmouth, Mass.). Rashaan Powell (Dorchester, Mass.) scored 13 points to give the Wildcats three starters with double-digit outputs.

Nicholas Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.) distributed a game-best eight assists, while Derek Fournier (Johnston, R.I.) led Wheelock in rebounding with six.

With Elms clinging to a 40-36 edge at intermission, Coucci nailed a three-pointer 14 seconds into the second half to pull the Wildcats to within one and he made two more treys to keep the score to within three at 48-45 with 17:19 to play, before Elms used strikes from beyond the arc by French and Murphy to highlight a 16-6 stretch by the Blazers.

Elms later maintained a 70-60 cushion, before the Wildcats cut the deficit to six with a 7-3 burst to make it 73-67 with 4:42 to play in the game.  However, that's as close the Wildcats would get for the rest of the contest as Elms pulled away to its 13-point victory.

Elms returns to NECC action on Tuesday, January 14 when it hosts Regis College at 5:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.