BENNINIGTON, Vt. — The 2014 Tri-State Shootout concluded Sunday afternoon at Southern Vermont College's Mountaineer Athletic Center with the hosting team hoisting the tournament trophy for the second straight year. SVC defeated Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 80-60 after Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute downed Vermont Technical College 78-53 in the consolation matchup.
The Mountaineers have now won four straight games for a 6-2 record on the season while RPI moves to 2-5 with its victory. MCLA and Vermont Tech. drop to 2-5 and 2-7, respectively, with the losses.
SVC junior DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) was named the tournament MVP, joining teammate Casey Hall (Albany, New York) on the 2014 Tri-State Shootout All-Tournament Team. MCLA senior Ruben Delrosaio (Springfield, Massachusetts) and sophomore Adam Conquest (Gardner, Massachusetts) were also named to the All-Tournament squad along with VTC junior Jamal Hughes (Stone Mountain, Georgia) and RPI junior Tyler Gendron (Merrimack, New Hampshire).
Consolation Game: RPI 78, Vermont Tech. 53
Three-pointers highlighted the beginning of the first game as the two sides went back-and-forth with deep shots. The Knights hit five of their first seven trey attempts with Hughes knocking one down to give Vermont Tech. a 15-14 advantage. The Engineers hit their share of shots from beyond the perimeter as well including one from senior Josh Dugas (Monroe, Connecticut) that gave RPI the 22-17 lead near the midpoint of the first half. With the teams working mostly from the outside, fouls were scarce in the opening period; the first was called on VTC with 10:11 to go in the stanza, and a total of five were called all half.
RPI started to consistently make its shots, pulling out to a 40-27 lead with 3:23 to play. A Trailblazer layup on the following possession cut it to 40-29 before both sides ceased to score for the remaining three minutes, sending the Engineers into the break with the 11-point lead.
Vermont Tech. came out of the locker room and made some shots, but RPI answered every time to maintain its advantage. The Engineers opened things up towards the end of the game, eventually increasing their lead to the final 25-point difference in the last minute.
Four RPI starters scored double digits with Gendron leading the way at 17 to go with seven rebounds. Junior Brian Hatcher (Danbury, Connecticut) followed with 16 points while Dugas finished with 15 and a tie for the game-high in assists with four. Sophomore Nate Kane (Glenmont, New York) also dished out four helpers while notching 10 points. Junior Chase Almond (South Kingston, Rhode Island) was a force on the defensive end of the floor for RPI, swatting away five Knight shots while grabbing nine defensive boards; he scored nine points and totaled a game-best 15 rebounds in the win.
Hughes recorded 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds in the effort while junior Logan White (So. Royalton, Vermont) also scored 15 on 4-8 shooting from three-point range. Knight junior Rashaad Powery-Saunds (Cayman Islands) got in on the block party with four of his own to go with three rebounds.
RPI shot 46.3 percent from the floor on 31-67 attempts while holding Vermont Tech. to a 32.8 percent clip (19-58). The Engineers forced VTC to make 14 turnovers and turned them into 15 points; adversely, RPI only gave the ball away seven times with the Knights getting two points off their takeaways. Rensselaer saw more success in the paint, scoring 32 points compared to 18 on the Vermont Tech. side.
The Engineers are off until December 28 when they take on Ursinus College in the Land of Magic Classic in Orlando, Florida. VTC next plays on Tuesday, hosting Northern Essex Community College for a 6 p.m. tip.
Championship Game: Southern Vermont 80, MCLA 60
Coming off a triple-overtime buzzer-beater to make it to the championship round, MCLA came out of the gate with momentum, grabbing boards and making shots before a three-ball by junior Trailblazer Khalil Paul (Troy, New York) made it 12-5 in favor of the visitors. After some back-and-forth, a pair of three-pointers by Paul bumped his team's lead up to 22-13 with 10:51 to go in the first, the largest lead MCLA would have on the day.
Southern Vermont freshman Daemond Carter (Forestville, Maryland) then put his team on his back to chip away at the deficit; he stole the ball from MCLA and went down for the fast-break layup, and then did the same thing off the Trailblazers' next possession while drawing the foul; he would hit the free throw for the three-point play to make it a 22-18 MCLA lead. Those steal-and-scores were part of a strong 22-2 SVC run that put the Mountaineers up 35-24 with 1:53 to play in the opening period.
The Trailblazers utilized their trips to the free throw line to get a few points, but Hamlet closed the half with a layup that sent Southern Vermont to the break with a 37-27 lead.
Hall came out of the intermission with a hot hand, hitting the first four SVC baskets. MCLA responded, however, to keep the Mountaineers from pulling away. One-of-two free throws by Trailblazer junior Paul Maurice (Mattapan, Massachusetts) eventually cut it to a 47-42 SVC lead, but Southern Vermont then went on a 10-0 run with a pair of slams by senior Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Maryland) to once again extend the difference.
Both sides knocked down shots before SVC scored seven unanswered, five coming from the charity stripe, to put the game away en route to the 80-60 final.
Hamlet finished with a double-double, notching 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Hall scored a team-best 15 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks, and Olugbile pitched in with 10 points and nine boards. Mountaineer junior William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) added nine points and a game-best four steals while Carter totaled nine points, three assists and a pair of swipes.
Conquest dropped a game-best 22 points while just missing the double-double with nine rebounds. Maurice scored seven points and grabbed nine caroms while sophomore Isshiah Coleman (Dorchester, Massachusetts) had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench.
SVC turned the 23 MCLA turnovers into 31 points while the Trailblazers scored only 12 off their 13 takeaways. Southern Vermont controlled the key, putting home 44 points from the inside compared to 22 for MCLA. The Mountaineers shot 45.6 percent from the floor (31-68) while the Trailblazers connected on 21-of-66 attempts for a 31.8 field goal percentage.
Southern Vermont is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Vassar College for a 7 p.m. start, the final game for the Mountaineers before the finals and holiday break. MCLA next visits Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Friday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.