Men's Basketball Scorches Wheelock

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

BOSTON, Mass. – The Elms College men's basketball team defeated host Wheelock College, 80-59, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest at Winsor Court Saturday afternoon. The Blazers improve to 4-7 overall, and 2-1 in the NECC, while Wheelock drops to 1-1 in league play, and 3-7 on the season.

The teams traded baskets to open the contest with Elms senior Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) scoring seven of the Blazers opening 11 points and a trey from Buchanon gave Elms an 11-8 lead at the 14:19 mark. The Blazers held the lead over the Wildcats behind 15-11 run over the next ten minutes of play. Wheelock used three-pointers from junior Derek Fournier (Johnston, R.I.) and junior Devin Brown (Chicago, Ill.) to trim the Blazers lead to 30-27 with 1:36 left in the first half. Four points from Buchanon closed the Blazers scoring for the half and Elms took a 34-30 lead into the half.

Buckets from Wheelock junior Anthony Williams (White Plains, N.Y.) and Fournier pulled the Wildcats to within one, 36-35, with 17:02 remaining. Four straight points from Buchanon, followed by a three-pointer from sophomore Andre Wright (Danbury, Conn.), regained a 43-35 lead for Elms, but back-to-back three's from Wildcats junior Nicholas Fenton (East Hartford, Conn.) and Fournier made it 43-41. A three-point play from Elms junior Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.) with 13:04 on the clock ignited a 23-5 run over the next seven minutes, powered by 12 points from Buchanon, to extend the Blazers advantage to 69-48 with 5:44 remaining. The exchanged baskets down the stretch as Elms secured the 80-59 victory.

Buchanon poured in a season-high 34 points, shooting 13-of-24 from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line, with six rebounds. Senior Jamaal Gary (Bloomfield, Conn.) netted a season-high 13 points with eight rebounds, and Ihearahu posted his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Junior Symon Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla.) dished out a team-high five assists with eight points and four rebounds.

Wheelock had three scorers in double figures, led by Williams with a team-high 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. Fournier added 12 points, while Fenton registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, along with a game-high seven assists and two steals.

The Blazers controlled the rebounding category, 51-38, during the contest. Elms connected on 46.3% (31-of-67) of their attempts from the field, including 30% (6-of-20) from three-point range, and 70.6% (12-of-17) from the free throw line. Wheelock shot 34.3% (23-of-67) from the floor, 21.2% (7-of-33) from three-point, and 66.7% (6-of-9) from the foul stripe.

The Blazers will look to remain in the win column with an NECC road trip to Becker College Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Wheelock hosts Lesley Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m.

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