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| In these frames taken from video, Daniel Webster guard Marquise Caudill delivers a knockdown blow to a Southern Vermont player. |
By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com
Daniel Webster College is closing its doors at the end of this academic year, and the athletic teams will be no more. But the Daniel Webster men's basketball team couldn't even get to the end of this troubled season without making headlines, as three people were arrested following a DWC player's alleged assault on an opponent from Southern Vermont in a Division III basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Marquise Caudill leveled a member of the Southern Vermont team, sophomore guard Kyle DePollar, who had recently returned from treatment for a concussion. After the brawl which ensued, Caudill was charged with second degree assault, disorderly conduct and criminal threatening for threatening a member of the Nashua, N.H., police department working security at the game, and disorderly conduct.
Teammate Antwaun Boyd was charged with disorderly conduct as well, for appearing to incite the crowd. A bystander, Elizabeth Morris, was charged with obstruction of government administration for trying to keep officers from arresting Caudill.
The game, which was stopped with 14:34 to go in the second half, officially goes into the books as a 2-0 win for Southern Vermont, a rare occasion of a forfeit rather than a no-contest. The incident happened after a scramble for a loose ball on the ground. Daniel Webster was leading 56-38 at the time.
Caudill, listed as a junior on the roster, was the team's leading scorer, at 13.7 points per game.
"(Depollar) seems to be doing fine," Southern Vermont coach Dan Engelstad told D3hoops.com's Dave McHugh. "The situation at DWC was unfortunate, but we're looking forward to the NECC tournament. I'm very proud of our team and how they responded to yesterday."
The Mountaineers, the top seed in the New England Collegiate Conference tournament, awaits the winner of fifth-seeded Mitchell and fourth-seeded Wheelock.
Daniel Webster was already playing out the string after having several conference games voided by the New England Collegiate Conference office for using an ineligible player. Inquiries from D3hoops.com earlier on Saturday elicited no response; however, the conference contests vs. Mitchell on Jan. 10, Newbury on Jan. 14, Lesley on Jan. 21, Regis (Mass.) on Jan. 28, and Elms on Jan. 31, all of them victories, knocking DWC's conference mark down to 3-8 and disqualifying the Eagles from the eight-team conference tournament.
Requests for further comment from Daniel Webster have gone unanswered. The college, in Nashua, N.H., was purchased by ITT Tech, which is ceasing the school's operations.