Southern Vermont Fends Off Men's Basketball

BENNINGTON, Vt. — The visiting Elms College Blazers gave a valiant effort in an attempt to snap Southern Vermont College's 32-game New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) regular season winning streak, but the hosting Mountaineers showed why they're atop the league standings as SVC closed out a 93-84 win Thursday night at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.

Southern Vermont went on a 13-5 run to end the first half and bring a 46-39 lead into the locker room; the team then overcame a two-point deficit in the final 20 minutes to pull ahead and keep the upper hand for the league victory.

The Mountaineers improve to 21-3 on the year with their 13th straight win of the season, staying perfect in league play with a 15-0 mark in NECC action. Elms falls to 13-11 overall and 11-3 against the Conference with the loss.

SVC wraps up the regular season on Saturday with a 3 p.m. home game against Daniel Webster College, holding Senior Day festivities for its five departing team members prior to the league tip-off. Elms hits the road the same day, visiting Lesley University for a 6 p.m. regular season finale.

The victory makes third-year Southern Vermont head coach Dan Engelstad the program's all-time winningest coach, giving him 62 victories in 79 games at the Mountaineers' helm. He surpasses predecessor and current SVC Director of Athletics Michael McDonough on the team's wins chart.

Southern Vermont was led by junior Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) who came off the bench to tally 20 points in 17 minutes of action, adding three rebounds to his night's line. Senior Casey Hall (Albany, N.Y.) followed with 17 points and 13 rebounds, tying his career-high for boards to notch his third double-double of the year. Senior Jeff James (Bowie, Md.) came one point shy of his career-best with 14, registering four assists, two steals and three rebounds in the win. Junior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) chipped in with 10 points and six boards in reserve time, helping provide huge bench minutes as the SVC starters found themselves in foul trouble throughout the evening.

Blazer senior Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) recorded a game-high 32 points, going a spotless 15-for-15 from the free throw line. Sophomore Andre Wright (Danbury, Conn.) followed with 17 points off the bench, going 5-for-7 from deep, while junior Symon Smith (Oklahoma City, Okla.) added another 12 points, five rebounds and four steals. Sophomore Chis Ceus (Lake Worth, Fla.) provided 10 points and a team-best seven boards in reserve time for Elms.

SVC shot 50.7 percent (35-69) from the floor on the night while the Blazers connected on 26-of-57 (45.6 percent) of their field goal attempts. Southern Vermont outrebounded EC by a 37-32 margin and outscored its opponent in points off turnovers by a 24-16 tally. The Mountaineers' paint game was strong, scoring 56 points from the key to the Blazers' 24.

James made a great steal in the early-going of the night, only to have Buchanon swipe it back and knock down a jumper from the top of the lane to give Elms a quick 6-2 upper hand. SVC responded with six unanswered points,the last three coming when freshman Josh Borders (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) drilled a basket from downtown in the left corner. EC stormed back to regain the lead, going on a 12-2 run that included five points from Buchanon; Smith capped that surge, rolling around a teammates' pick on the right side of the court before drilling a 15-foot jumper to put his team on top 18-10 at the 12:41mark.

Southern Vermont chipped away at its deficit, getting it to a 22-18 Elms advantage when junior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) made an amazingly acrobatic steal on a Blazer inbound pass before finding classmate Brandon Casella (Pittsfield, Mass.) underneath the hoop for an easy two. Taylor made his presence known through the midpoint of the opening half, showing his athleticism while going at the rim three times to score six points for SVC in a span of 1:35. Hall completed an old-fashioned three-point play to make it just a 24-23 Blazer lead, and he then took the last of many Mountaineer passes around the perimeter to knock down a long jumper for Southern Vermont to go up 27-26.

A Goldsmith tip-in would put SVC ahead by four, only to see Ceus find the bottom of the bucket on a long-range shot from the left edge of the perimeterto cut it back to one. Two Buchanon free throws gave the Blazers a 34-33 edge, but a pair of Taylor layups started an 11-0 Mountaineer run that put Southern Vermont ahead by a strong margin; Borders finished that late surge, taking a skip pass from James and banging home another triple from the left corner. Elms closed out the half with a 5-2 spurt, sending the game to intermission with the Mountaineers in front 46-39.

SVC notched the first four points of the second period to extend its lead, only to see Elms respond with five unanswered to cut it down to a 50-44 Southern Vermont edge. Buchanon got a layup to go shortly after, and an ensuing technical on the Mountaineer bench sent him to the line to add another uncontested two. Those points were the start of a 10-0 EC run that gave the Blazers the lead, forcing SVC to take a timeout after senior DeShawn Hamlet(Hartford, Conn.) ended his team's scoring drought with a layup. The Mountaineers went back ahead once again when sophomore Daemond Carter(Forestville, Md.) connected on a three from the right corner, but a Buchanon and-one play then tied things at 59-59 with 12:56 to go.

Hall set up Carter in the right corner with a bullet pass for another trey by the Mountaineer sophomore, only to have Wright answer with a three of his own on the next trip down the floor to even the score. Elms would grab a quick two-point lead, but SVC notched five unanswered points with help from a third Carter downtown basket; Wright came up big again for the visitors, hittinganother pair of three-pointers as EC went up 70-68 at the 9:13 mark.

The 13th lead change of the night would be the last, Southern Vermont senior William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.) downing a triple to open up an 11-2 SVC run that put the hosts on top for good. Wright hit his fifth trey of the evening with 4:20 left to play to make it a 79-75 Blazer deficit, and the teams traded scores before Borders, Hall and Taylor all went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe for Southern Vermont to pull ahead at 89-77.

Not to go quietly, Elms came back with seven straight points, Buchanon knocking down all three free throws after getting fouled on a long attempt before hitting a trey to make it 89-84 in the final minute of play. That would be the last Blazer score of the evening, however, as James and Hall each hit their two bonus opportunities to close out SVC's fourth straight win in meetings with EC.

Source: (Southern Vermont Athletics)