BENNINGTON, Vt. – Elms College senior guard Cecil Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) scored a team-high 19 points but a game-high 28-point effort from Southern Vermont College's Lance Spratling (Pittsfield, Mass.) and a blocked shot in the final seconds of the game helped preserve an 84-82 victory for the Mountaineers in Monday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game.

With the loss, Elms has its five-game winning streak snapped and falls to 13-6 on the season, 6-2 in league action, while Southern Vermont improves to 12-8 overall, 6-3 in conference play.

Trailing 75-71 with 5:11 to play in the game, Cecil Avant swished a pair of free throws and drilled a three-pointer to give Elms a 76-75 lead at the 4:49 mark. Ben Naaktgeboren (Cambridge, N.Y.) answered with a jumper for Southern Vermont and Derrick Cenicola (Hamilton, N.Y.) hit a pair of free throws to extend the Mountaineers' lead back to three at 79-76 before sophomore guard Brittain Purcelle's (Tarrytown, N.Y.) mid-range jumper with 2:08 remaining pulled Elms to withinin one at 79-78.

Cecil Avant then found Blazers' sophomore forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) underneath for a layup to give Elms an 80-79 lead with 1:38 left in the game.

Thirty seconds later, Spratling hit a jumper to put Southern Vermont ahead by one, and then capitalized with a pair of foul shots with 16 seconds to play to give the Mountaineers an 83-80 cushion.

Cecil Avant responded with a layup with 11 seconds to play and then fouled Spratling to send him to the line holding an 83-82 lead. Spratling hit the backend of the two free throws with seven ticks on the clock and proceeded to block Cecil Avant's final attempt at tying the game as Southern Vermont held on for a thrilling 84-82 win.

Leading 43-37 at intermission, Elms extended its lead to 10 at 58-48 when senior forward Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Fla.) delivered a bucket in the paint at the 16:23 mark.

Southern Vermont closed the gap with a 13-8 run over the next six minutes capped by a Cenicola trey to pull to within one at 66-65 with 9:55 remaining in the contest.  

After a 4-1 run by Southern Vermont broke a 68-68 tie and gave the Mountaineers a 72-69 lead with 6:13 to play, Blazers' senior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) swished a pair of free throws to narrow Elms' deficit to 72-71 before Cenicola connected from three-point range to set the stage for the final five minutes of the game.

Cecil Avant finished 6 of 15 from the field including 3 of 9 from beyond the arc, while Alverio, Martinez and Purcelle added 16, 15 and 10 points respectively to give Elms four starters in double figures.

Griffin added 11 points off the bench in the losing effort, while Alverio collected a team-high 13 rebounds. Cecil Avant also dished out five assists and recorded five steals.

Cenicola netted 18 points, while Naaktgeboren and Taeshon Johnson (Pittsfield, Mass.) chipped in 17 points apiece to give the Mountaineers four players in double figures.

Both sides tallied high shooting percentages from the field as Elms shot 44.4-percent and Southern Vermont shot 44.8-percent, but the Mountaineers out-rebounded the Blazers 52-33 and scored 29 second-chance points against Elms' 17 en route to the victory. Naaktgeboren hauled in a team-high 13 rebounds while Spratling added 10 boards to highlight the effort.

Elms returns to NECC action on Thursday, Feb. 3 when it travels to New London, Conn. to take on Mitchell College. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.