Men's Basketball Falls to Mitchell

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's basketball team dropped their second conference contest of the season, falling to visiting Mitchell College, 86-72, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) game at Picknelly Arena Saturday afternoon.

 The Mariners raced to an early 9-2 lead in the opening two minutes of play. Mitchell extended their with a 13-4 run over the next seven minutes, fueled by five points from junior forward Donavan McClean (Waterbury, Conn.), to make it a 22-6 game. The Blazers rallied back behind a 14-8 run to cut their deficit to 30-20 on a pair of free throws from senior guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) with 6:46 on the clock. Leading 30-21, the Mariners closed the opening frame on a 14-6 run, powered by four team three-pointers in the final minutes to take a 44-27 lead into halftime.

Jumpers from senior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) and junior guard Tim Putnam (Windsor Locks, Conn.) trimmed the Mariners lead to 46-31 at the 18:01 mark. The Mariners regained their offensive momentum with a 13-6 run, capped off by a three-pointer from junior guard Frank Martin (Port St. Lucie, Fla.), to pull ahead 59-37 with 13:08 remaining. Trailing 62-43 at the 8:38 mark, Elms mounted a final comeback with a 14-7 run, featuring 11 consecutive points from Lockett, to make it a 69-57 game. A three-pointer from Putnam with 3:32 to play trimmed the Blazers deficit into single digits, 73-64. The squads exchanged buckets for the next minute with the Blazers getting treys from Putnam and Lockett to keep within nine points, 79-70. The Mariners put the game away with back-to-back buckets from McClean and three straight free throw from Martin to send Mitchell to the 86-72 win.

Lockett paced the Blazers offensively with his fourth double-double of the season, netting 20 points with a game-high 13 rebounds. Putnam registered a season-high 17 points, while freshman guard Keeshaun King (Jacksonville, Fla.) added seven points and four assists off the bench. Simpson dished out a game-high seven assists with six points and four rebounds.

Mitchell had four scorers recorded double-digit point totals, led by a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds from senior forward Parris Hill (Stockton, Calif.). McClean tallied 20 points, and junior forward Devonta Mosley (Gainesville, Fla.) notched 11 points and six rebounds. Martin added 11 points, while senior forward Joshua Ford (Jersey City, N.J.) snared a team-high 11 rebounds in the win.

Mitchell edged the Blazers on the glass, 40-34, in the paint, 42-30, and on second chance points, 22-10. Elms connected on 42.1% (24-of-57) of their field goal attempts, including 27.8% (5-of-18) from three-point range, and 79.2% (19-of-24) from the foul line. The Mariners shot 47.7 (31-of-65) from the field, 34.8% (8-of-23) from three-point, and 61.5% (16-of-26) from the charity stripe.

Elms drops to 8-9 overall and 7-2 in NECC play, while the Mitchell improved to 7-9, and 5-4 on the season. The Blazers return to action when they travel to Daniel Webster for a 7:30 p.m. tip on February 3^rd. Mitchell hosts Connecticut College Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m.

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