BROOKLINE, Mass. — The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team went up big in the first half Tuesday night, going on to win 71-50 at Newbury College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play.
SVC improves to 4-0 in NECC action and 10-3 overall with the win while the Nighthawks fall to 1-11, 0-4 in the league.
Mountaineer junior DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) registered a game-best 21 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor, adding a night-high 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double and fifth of the season. Classmate William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) followed with a season-best 20 points while going 4-6 from beyond the arc, and sophomore Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Maryland) added six points and three steals to go with his game-high seven assists.
Four Nighthawks made their way to double-digits in the points column as sophomore Kenny Ramos (Roxbury, Massachusetts) and senior Mills Carrasco (Haverhill, Massachusetts) each scored 13. Senior Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Massachusetts) added 10 points and team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists, and sophomore Ceejae Carter (Dorchester, Massachusetts) chipped in with 11 points on the night.
Southern Vermont connected on 25-of-53 field goal attempts (47.2 percent) while holding Newbury to just a 17-60 clip (28.3 percent). The Mountaineers dominated the paint, outscoring NC 38-14 from inside the key. The visitors also held an upper hand in bench points with a 31-3 advantage in the win.
A Carter three put Newbury up 5-0 to start the action, but Southern Vermont came storming back with a 14-2 run that saw Hamlet and junior captain Antoine White (Bethesda, Maryland) score four points each. NC closed it to 14-10 with a pair of baskets, but the Mountaineers then outscored Newbury 17-3 over the next six minutes to take a comfortable lead.
Bromirski scored all nine of his first half points in that stretch with a three-ball accompanying a 4-5 performance from the free throw line. Hamlet had 10 points and seven rebounds in the period as SVC took a 37-18 lead to the break.
Throughout the second half, Southern Vermont maintained its lead as Bromirski heated up from the outside; he knocked down three treys in a two-minute stretch as the Mountaineers thwarted Newbury's efforts to climb back into the game. SVC outscored the Nighthawks just 34-32 in the second half to walk out with the 71-50 conference victory.
Southern Vermont is back at home on Thursday to host Daniel Webster College for an 8 p.m. start while Newbury is off until Saturday when the Nighthawks visit DWC at 2:30 p.m.