Buchanon Notches 1,000-Point in Win Over Mitchell

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's basketball team cruised past Mitchell College in dominant fashion, posting a 101-61 victory over the Mariners in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at Picknelly Arena Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Blazers improve to 3-5 on the season, and 1-1 in the NECC, while Mitchell falls to 0-1 in league play and 1-4 overall.

Elms senior Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) took the game over early in the first half, netting the opening 16 points for the Blazers as Elms paced the Mariners, 16-5, in the opening four minutes. Leading 20-10 with 13:24 on the clock, the Blazers began to create separation with a 24-8 run over the next eight minutes of play, featuring seven points from Buchanon, as Elms claimed a 44-18 advantage. The Blazers edged the Mariners, 15-9, over the final five minutes of the half to take a 59-27 lead into the intermission.

Six consecutive points from Elms junior Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.), capped off with an alley-op dunk at the 16:07 mark, pushed the Blazers advantage to 67-29 in the second half. With 9:27 to play, Elms junior Trifon Bish (St. Catherine, Jamaica) intercepted a pass to the wing and delivered a fast break jam to put Elms up 41 points, 80-39. A pair of free throws from junior Sirvaughn Hobdy (Atlanta, Ga.) gave the Blazers their largest lead of the contest, 95-51, with 3:39 remaining. Freshman Kyle Wider (Plainfield, N.J.) knocked down a jumper with a minute left to put the Blazers over the century mark, en route to the 101-61 victory over Mitchell.

"The team displayed a great response to the challenge I issued them after our loss to Wheelock," said Elms Head Coach Rob Southall. "I wanted to work on our defensive intensity, and making sure that we set the tone, rather than reacting to our opponents. We corrected the mistakes we were making over-and-over in the Wheelock game, and did a much better job executing our game plan today. [Jerry] is an amazing scorer, and has a knack for finding the ball. He set the tone for us and put [Mitchell] back on their heels early. We need to finish the first semester on a good note, we have a challenging Johnson & Wales team coming up, so we just need to focus, continue to work hard in practice, and get better every day."

Buchanon led all scorers with a game-high 29 points, all coming in the first half, while shooting 11-of-16 from the floor with seven assists, four rebounds, and four steals. On his second three-pointer of the game, Buchanon became the eighth player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau at Elms. Ihearahu chipped in 15 points with a team-high seven rebounds. Bish and sophomore Devonte Marshall (Springfield, Mass.) added 11 points apiece, while junior Symon Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla.) dished out a season-high 10 assists with five points, three rebounds and two steals.

The Mariners were paced by senior Donovan McClean (Jersey City, N.J.) with a team-high 15 points and three rebounds. Freshman Domenico Santiago (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) logged a double-double in the loss with a game-high 12 rebounds along with 12 points, while senior Frank Martin (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) tallied nine points.

The Blazers edged the Mariners in rebounding (47-41), points in the paint (44-28), points off turnovers (24-8), second-chance points (21-8), and bench points (48-14). Elms connected on 52.1% (38-of-73) from the field, including 38.1% (8-of-21) from three-point, and 73.9% (17-of-23) from the foul line. Mitchell shot 34.4% (22-of-64) from the floor, 14.3% (3-of-21) from three-point range, and 60.9% (14-of-23) from the charity stripe.

The Blazers will travel to Johnson & Wales for a non-conference tilt Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Mariners host Fisher College on December 16^th at 5:30 p.m.

ELMS BASKETBALL