The Newbury College men's basketball team pushed their winning streak to four games with a decisive, 85-56 victory over Southern Vermont College, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, Saturday afternoon. Senior center Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) recorded his eighth double-double of the season, tallying a team-high 17 points and 12 points.
Newbury wasted no time in getting the offense into gear. Junior guard Steve Rosemond(Everett, Mass.) gave the fans a preview of the second game of the twin bill, putting the Nighthawks on the board launching a long range trey on their second possession. The Nighthawks were lethal from beyond the arc, shooting 45.5% in half as they quickly built up a 10-point lead on the Mountaineers.
However, the Nighthawks were not just getting it done in the air. Midway through the half, junior guard Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Mass.) came off the bench and ignited the Nighthawks ground game with four steals in four minutes. The South Shore native picked the pocket of Southern Vermont junior forward Tyler Hess (Southwick, Mass.) and took it back down the other way for a fast-break lay-up to put the Nighthawks up 13, 28-15.
Mountaineer sophomore guard Travis Severs (Bennington, Vt.) cut the deficit down to a manageable 10 points with 6:33 left to play draining a three from Hess, but Nighthawk sophomore guard Milciades Carrasco (Haverhill, Mass.) answered the bell. Entering the game two seconds prior, Carrasco wasted no time and pushed the lead 15 knocking down a trey of his own. Two possessions later, sophomore center Cameron Owen (Concord, N.H.) got in on the three-point action when Carrasco found his classmate wide open at the perimeter to give Newbury the 40-24 advantage with just over five minutes left in the half. The Nighthawks did not look back and took at commanding, 44-32 lead into the break.
When the teams emerged from the locker rooms at the start of the second half, the Nighthawks' quickness appeared to be too much for the Mountaineers to hand. Eight minutes into the period, junior guard Eric Watson (New Rochelle, N.Y.) picked the pocket of senior guard Taeshon Johnson (Charlotte, N.C.) and took back down court for the fast-break lay-up to put the Nighthawks up 68-41.
Johnson led all scorers and Southern Vermont with a game-high 21 points while Bernard led four Nighthawks in double-figures netting 17 points. Rosemond and Watson followed up with 16 and 15 points, respectively, with senior guard Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) rounding out the Newbury foursome tallying 12 points while dishing out a game-high three assists.
Newbury remains perfect in conference action improving to 7-0 and 9-6 overall while Southern Vermont falls to 0-16 and 0-8 in NECC action. The Nighthawks look to push their win-streak to five games when they travel to New London, Conn. Tuesday January 22nd for a 6:00 p.m. tilt against NECC's leading scorer Joshua Ford and Mitchell College. The Mountaineers will also be ina action on Tuesday on the road against Becker College at 6:00 p.m.
Game Notes:
Pulling down 22 offensive rebounds, Newbury outscored Southern Vermont, 21-2 on second chance points as well as 10-4 on the fast-break.