Hawks Fall In NECC Championship
LEICESTER, Mass. - For the second time in as many season, the
Elms College men's basketball team won the New England Collegiate
Conference (NECC) Championship tournament as the second-seeded
Blazers downed No. 1 Becker College 79-68 on Saturday in Leicester,
Mass.
With the win, Elms improves to 21-6 on the season and will await
selection into either NCAA or ECAC tournaments. Becker concludes
its season 18-9 overall.
Trailing 55-54 with 11:27 to play in the game, Elms' junior forward
Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) delivered a layup to spark a
17-1 run, highlighted by three-pointers from freshman guard Andre
French (Torrington, Conn.), senior point guard Juan Maldonado
(Holyoke, Mass.), junior guard Arsenio Avant (Southwest, Fla.) and
sophomore guard Bryant Corcoran (Wolcott, Conn.) to give the
Blazers a 15-point 71-56 lead with 5:14 to play.
Becker used 10-3 run on the strength of four points each from
Terrence Favors (Boston, Mass.) and Markus Wright (New London,
Conn.) to pull the Hawks to within eight at 74-66 with 2:33 to play
in the contest, but Elms scored five of the next seven points seal
the victory and its second straight title win over Becker.
French netted a game-high 18 points for the Blazers en route to
Most Valuable Player honors, while Martinez and Holder finished
with 11 and nine points respectively in the win. Mathis hauled in a
team-best nine rebounds while Alverio contributed seven boards.
Becker's Trey Jacobs (Lexington Park, Md.) and Favors poured in 17
points apiece for the Hawks, while Mudia Osewegie (Roselle, N.J.)
added 16. Jacobs tackled the glass for a game-best 11 rebounds in
the losing effort.
In the opening 20 minutes, Becker stormed out to an early 10-0 lead
in the first 3:04, and extended that lead to 16-5 at the 13:45
mark. Osewegie, DJ Exum (New London, Conn.) and Wright netted four
points apiece during the run, while Jacobs and Favors each added a
jumper to give the Hawks an early 11-point cushion.
Elms answered right back, scoring 13 of the next 17 points on the
strength of seven points by junior forward Edgar Martinez
(Springfield, Mass.), four from senior forward Javon Mathis (East
Hartford, Conn.) and a mid-range jumper from senior forward Antoine
Holder (Hartford, Conn.) to pull the Blazers to within two at 20-18
with 9:41 to play in the frame.
Becker pushed its lead back to five at 24-19, before Avant swished
a three-pointer and Holder added a bucket and a pair of free throws
to give Elms its first advantage of the contest at 25-24 at the
7:55 mark.
Trailing 27-25 with 5:43 remaining in the frame, French sank a trey
to spark a 13-5 run to close out the half. French added two more
from beyond the arc, while freshman guard Brittain Purcelle
(Tarrytown, N.Y.) and sophomore guard Luis Santiago (San Juan,
Puerto Rico) each added a layup to give Elms a 38-32 lead at
intermission.
French netted nine points off the bench on 3 of 3 shooting from
long-range, while Martinez added seven points in the first period
for Elms.
Becker received eight points each from Jacobs and Osewegie to help
the Hawks shoot 46.4-percent from the field in the stanza.
2009-10 NECC All-Tournament Team
Andre French, Elms College, MVP
Arsenio Avant, Elms College
DeJohn Exum, Becker College
Trey Jacobs, Becker College
Alex Green, Lesley University
Sherard Robbins, Wheelock College
