Men’s Basketball Downs Newbury College, 73-62

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College had four starters score in double figures, led by a 20-point effort from Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) as the Blazers notched a 73-62 victory over Newbury College in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 9-10 on the season, 7-3 in league action, while Newbury slips to 1-17 overall, 1-8 in NECC play.

Newbury came out firing in the first half from three-point range as the Nighthawks hit on 8 of 16 from long distance including a 4 of 5 effort from Daivon Edwards (Boston, Mass.) who registered 17 points. David Hart (Keene, N.H.) canned a trey with 9:06 to play in the first half to give the Nighthawks their largest advantage of the contest (15) and set the score at 25-10.

Back-to-back swishes from beyond the arc by Elms' sophomore guard Derek Murphy (Columbia, Md.) sparked a rally by the Blazers and with 2:58 on the clock, a fast-break bucket by French gave Elms its first lead of the game at 29-28. From there, the Blazers were able to use a pair of free throws by junior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) to take a 37-33 advantage into intermission.

Lockett finished the half with 10 points and 10 rebounds, Murphy netted 11 points on the strength of 3 of 5 shooting from the three-point line, while French and senior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) netted eight points each.

Early in the second frame, Elms pushed its lead to as many as nine when Murphy canned a trey at the 18:12 mark to set the score at 42-33.

An 11-6 run by the Nighthawks capped by an Earl Hassell (New Haven, Conn.) triple pulled Newbury to within four at 48-44 with 12:20 on the clock but the Blazers maintained a steady advantage scoring seven unanswered points 2:38 to extend the cushion to 11 points at 55-44.

Elms maintained at least an eight-point lead until Ceejae Carter (Dorchester, Mass.) drilled a pair of free throws at the 5:30 mark to set the score at 60-54. The Nighthawks crept even closer when Edwards netted a trey a minute later to  narrow the deficit to five at 63-58, but that's as close as Newbury could get as Murphy and French each made a pair of free throws to help push the lead back to 10 at 68-58 with 3:15 remaining in the contest as Elms eventually pulled away to a 73-62 victory.

Elms shot 32.7-percent from the field but a stellar 84.6-percent from the free throw line, led by French's 12 for 12 effort and Odunlami's 9 for 10 output. Murphy, Lockett and Odunlami each registered 17 points behind a 20-point effort from French who dished out five of the Blazers' 10 assists and added four steals.

Lockett led all players on the glass with 16 rebounds, while Odunalmi corralled 10 boards. Freshman forward Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.) added seven rebounds in the winning effort.

Edwards was 6 of 9 from the three-point line and finished with a game-high 30 points and six rebounds. Hassell added nine points and four steals, while Adam James (Queens, N.Y.) finished with nine boards in the losing effort.

Elms returns to NECC action Thursday, January 30 at Lesley University at 8:00 p.m.