CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior forward Edgar Martinez (Springfield, Mass.) netted a team-high 19 points and hauled in a game-best 14 rebounds, but Becker College's Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, Md.) led all scorers with 20 points and Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) registered his 1,000th-career point and finished with 19 to help lift the Hawks to a hard-fought 81-74 win in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.
With the loss, Elms moves to 15-7 on the season, 8-3 in conference action, while Becker improves to 18-3 overall, and remains unbeaten in league play at 10-0.
Trailing 75-66 with 49 seconds remaining in the game, Blazers' senior forward Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) netted a pair of free throws to pull Elms to within seven at 75-68 before he swiped the ensuing inbounds pass and was immediately fouled by Becker. Alverio connected for two more free throws to cut Elms' deficit to five at 75-70.
Becker's Ricky Clark (New Britain, Conn.) hit the front end of two foul shots to extend the lead back to six with 43 ticks on the clock before Elms' senior guard Cecil Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) delivered a pair from the stripe to narrow the gap to four at 76-72 seven seconds later.
The Hawks answered when Jacobs found Leggett underneath for a basket and forced a turnover on the Blazers' next possession as Terrance Favors (Boston, Mass.) pushed the ball up the floor to Moody Doherty (Roselle, N.J.) who converted a layup giving Becker an eight-point 80-72 lead. From there, Cecil Avant hit two free throws, with 14 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, but a foul shot by Favors with six ticks on the clock sealed the seven-point 81-74 win for the Hawks.
Cecil Avant netted 17 points in defeat, including three strikes from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. He added four assists and three steals, while sophomore guard Brittain Purcelle (Tarrytown, N.Y.) added 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting from the field. Senior guard Arsenio Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) was a spark off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 from the field in 15 minutes, including a three-pointer, en route to eight points.
Trailing 34-22 at halftime, Elms responded by scoring the first five points of the second period, capped by a Martinez layup at the 17:38 mark to cut Becker's lead to 34-27. The Hawks countered when Legget hit a free throw and Clark sank a pair of treys to extend the lead back to 14 (41-27) with 16:13 remaining in the contest.
A Leggett layup with 2:26 on the clock gave Becker its largest lead of the game at 16 points (75-59) before Elms rallied with 11 unanswered points, sparked by a Cecil Avant three-pointer, to pull the Blazers to within five at 75-70.
Favors netted 12 points while Doherty and Markus Wright (New Haven, Conn.) contributed 11 and 10 points respectively to give Becker five players in double figures.
Leggett notched 10 rebounds in addition to his 19 points, Favors dished out a game-high eight assists and Wright added seven helpers to help spark the Hawks' offense which shot 51.5-percent from the floor for the game.
Doherty totaled four blocks and four steals, while Alverio and sophomore forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) added three swats in the losing effort.
Elms returns to NECC action Thursday, Feb. 10 when it travels to Daniel Webster College for a 7:30 p.m. contest.