CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Six Southern Vermont College players reached double digits in the points column Saturday evening as the visiting Mountaineers downed Lesley University 98-75 in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball action.
SVC started strong, going on a 29-2 run early in the game for what would be a 28-point lead at halftime (54-26). The Mountaineers continued to shoot well in the second period for the win, coming just two points shy of reaching triple digits for the third time this year.
Southern Vermont improves to 4-2 on the season with a three-game win streak, moving to 2-0 in NECC action after the final league contest before the winter break. The victory extends the Mountaineers' NECC regular season winning streak to 20 games, dating back to February 12, 2014, while SVC has now won its last five meetings with the Lynx.
SVC is next is next in action on Wednesday, visiting Vassar College for a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup.
Mountaineer senior Casey Hall (Albany, N.Y.) went 6-7 from the floor and 4-5 at the free throw line for 16 points while notching six rebounds, two blocks and a pair of assists. JuniorRayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) tied Hall's 16 points off the bench for a season-high, adding seven rebounds, four assists and two steals to his line. Junior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) was right behind with a season-best 15 points in 14 minutes of reserve time, recording six rebounds and two assists in the win.
SVC senior William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.) put down 13 points with three baskets from beyond the arc while classmate DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Daemond Carter (Forestville, Md.) had a strong first half, going 3-4 from downtown and adding a pair of free throws to tally 11 points on the night.
Southern Vermont shot 52.3 percent (34-65) from the floor while going 8-25 (32 percent) from three-point distance. SVC took a 45-41 edge in rebounds, and its bench outscored that of Lesley by a 41-26 margin.
The Lynx scored the first three points of the game, but the hosts' lead would be short-lived as SVC came back to record 11 unansweredfor a lead it would not give away; four Mountaineers scored in that time with Bromirski hitting two jumpers while Hall completed an old-fashion three-point play. A Lynx basket ended their scoring drought, but Hall responded on the ensuing possession to spark an 18-0 Southern Vermont run that included three SVC treys, two off the hand of Carter in a 16-second stretch.
Carter would add another three-pointer before hitting a pair of free throws at the 6:26 mark to put Southern Vermont on top 36-10, and Taylor then converted the Mountaineers' third and-one play of the half to spark a 7-0 spurt that put the visitors in front 43-16. Lesley would hit a pair of threes in the final 1:18 of the stanza, but two straight baskets by Taylor, including a layup to beat the buzzer, sent SVC into the locker room with a strong 54-26 advantage.
The Lynx notched another pair of thee-pointers in the onset of the second half, but Bromirski answered with his second of the night to put his team ahead 59-34. Hall scored five straight Mountaineer points with another and-one play, and a third Bromirski trey started a 9-2 SVC run for a comfortable cushion. Goldsmith then registered Southern Vermont's fifth non-traditional three-point play before an 8-2 Mountaineer spurt gave the visitors their biggest lead of the night (84-48) with 8:28 to go in the contest. Lesley notched a pair of thee-pointers and closed out the game with an 11-2 run, but it fell far short as SVC walked out with the league win.