Men's basketball comeback bid falls short

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College men's basketball team couldn't keep pace with a sharp-shooting Mitchell squad in the New England Collegiate Conference opener on Tuesday night, falling 80-71 at Picknelly Arena.

Mitchell (5-7, 1-0 NECC) shot 50 percent from the field for the game, hitting 32-of-64 attempts, to fend off a pesky Blazer team.

D.J. Edelen scored a team-high 15 points off the bench for the Blazers, hitting 5-of-12 from the field including three 3-pointers. DeAngelo Cousar added 12 points and Nikolas Brown finished with nine for Elms. Andre Peguero finished with five points and a team-high eight boards.

Mitchell was led by big man Domenico Santiago, who had 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and added a game-high 13 rebounds. Steffen Brunson added to the Mariner's arsenal, scoring a game-high 22 points and adding five assists and four rebounds.

Elms (0-10, 0-1 NECC) out-rebounded Mitchell 44-1 in the game, including 12-6 on the offensive end. The Blazers, however, shot 37 percent from the field and hit just 8-of-28 (29 percent) 3-point attempts.

After trailing 43-37 at halftime, the Blazers were playing catch-up for the entire second half. Elms cut the deficit to five points, 59-54, with 7:25 to play, the Mariners went on a 12-3 run to fend off the Elms comeback attempt.

The Blazers continue NECC action with two more games this week, visiting Newbury College on Jan. 11 and Becker on Jan. 13.