Blazers Fall to Falcons

Chicopee, MA – The Elms College men's basketball team dropped a hard fought GNAC game to Albertus Magnus College earlier this evening, 98-78.

THE BASICS:

SCORE: Elms 78, Albertus Magnus 98

RECORDS: Elms (0-12, 0-7 GNAC), AMC (7-3, 5-1 GNAC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Albertus struck first on a made lay-up to take the early 2-0 lead, but the Blazers quickly roared back with a 4-0 run to take the 4-2 lead. Elms put together a 5-0 spurt to increase its lead to five, 9-5, before the Falcons tied the game at 9-all. 

With just under 15 minutes remaining in the first, the Falcons led 18-9. Elms called a time out, and battled back to within five, 18-13.

A short 5-2 burst from the Blazers brought the score to within five, 26-21. The Blazers slowly began to chip away at the Falcons' lead as the hosts trailed by 10, 48-38, heading into the halftime break.

The Falcons opened the second half with a 13-point lead, 51-38, but shortly after D.J. Edelen (Prince George, Va.) nailed his own three to send the deficit back down to 10, 51-41. From there, Albertus slowly began building momentum offensively widening the gap with 14:39 left on the clock. 

Two minutes later, another 5-2 burst, but the Blazers responded with their own 5-0 push, to make it a 67-54 showing and forcing a full timeout from the Falcons.

An 11-2 run by Elms was highlighted by eight points from Cecil Villa (Springfield, MA), and cut the Albertus lead in half, 76-65, with just under nine minutes to play. The Falcons netted two, turning the score to 80-65, with the Blazers calling a timeout. 

Out of the short break, the Falcons' lead to 84-65. The teams traded baskets from there, with Albertus taking a 95-74 lead into the last minute. A three-point play by the Blazers in the final minute between a layup from Teron Griffin and a free-throw from Roy Mckeithe, but was answered by a three from the Falcons in the final seconds, ending the night for the Blazers, 98-78. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Cecil Villa capped the night with 4 rebounds and 24 points, with 6 three-pointers
• Teron Griffin walked away with 9 rebounds and 15 points
• Roy Mckeithen 
• D.J. Edelen and Jaijuan Macklin both notched 8 points each
• Justin Feliciano held the court with 10 assists and 4 points

FROM THE DESK OF COACH SOUTHALL:

"Although we came up short, I love how hard we competed tonight."

UP NEXT:

The Blazers hit the road to GNAC opponent, Lasell University for a 7:30 PM start time on Thursday, 1/20.

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