NEW LONDON, Conn. – Elms College senior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) netted a game-high 24 points and senior forward Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) recorded a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double in the first half to help pace the Blazers to a 96-62 win over Mitchell College in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game.

With the win, Elms improves to 14-6 overall, 7-2 in league play, while Mitchell slides to 1-18 on the season, 0-10 in NECC action.

Leading 15-14 at the 12:35 mark of the first period, Elms went on a 26-4 run over the next 8:13 to stake a commanding 41-18 lead highlighted by three-pointers from freshman guard Jordan Robinson (Plainsboro, N.J.) and junior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) and capped by a pair of free throws by Alverio. Mitchell then scored nine of the next 15 points to set the score at 47-27 at intermission.

Elms shot 47.1-percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, and hit 10 of 11 free throws, (including a 5 for 6 effort from Alverio) to help establish a 20-point cushion. Martinez, Gonzalez and Alverio each scored in double figures in the opening half, registering 12, 11 and 10 points respectively.

Paul Jefferson (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a pair from beyond the arc to highlight a 10-6 run for Mitchell over the first 4:22 of the second half and pull the Mariners to within 16 at 53-37, but that's as close as they would get as Elms quickly extended its lead back to 20 when senior guard Cecil Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) hit a pair from the stripe with 16:07 remaining in the contest.

From there, the Blazers held at least a 19-point edge and used a 29-10 run during a 9:24 span to cruise to a 38-point with 6:06 remaining in the game.

Martinez and Gonzalez each duplicated their scoring outputs from the first half as Martinez finished with 24 points and seven boards, while Gonzalez connected for 22.

Freshman center DaSean Brown (Hartford, Conn.) added five points off the Blazers who scored 46 points in the paint, while Cecil Avant dished out a game-high six assists.

Mitchell was led by Tim Quinn (Vernon, Conn.) who scored a team-high 19 points, while Jefferson added 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting from three-point range in the losing effort.  

Elms returns to conference action on Saturday, Feb. 5 when it hosts Newbury College at 4:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.