LEICESTER, Mass. — Southern Vermont College held off a late Becker College push Tuesday night to top the hosting Hawks 75-72 in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball action at Leicester Gymnasium.

SVC improves to 13-3 overall on the year while staying perfect in Conference play at 7-0. The Mountaineers have now won their last 25 regular season NECC games dating back to the end of the 2013-14 season. They have also taken their last four meetings with Becker, including last year's semifinal playoff, after the Hawks took the first 12 contests between the two. SVC continues a tough road week on Thursday, heading to Elms College for a 7 p.m. league showdown.

Southern Vermont trailed by nine with just under six minutes to go in the opening half, but the Mountaineers ended the period on a strong run to go into the break ahead 34-32. SVC would eventually lead by 16 late in the game, only to see the Hawks fight back to get within three with 13 seconds to go. The first Becker attempt to tie was off the mark, and the horn sounded before the hosts could get off another for the Mountaineers to capture the victory.

SVC freshman Josh Borders (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) tied the game-high of 18 points, topping his previous season-best by seven while going 4-5 from deep and dishing out three assists. Senior William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.) followed with 13 points, and classmate DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) tallied 12 points and three rebounds.

Junior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) came off the Southern Vermont bench to tally 11 points while senior Casey Hall (Albany, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Senior Jeff James (Bowie, Md.) provided another six boards, four points and four assists in the win.

The Mountaineers went 27-56 (48.2 percent) from the field while connecting on 8-of-16 three-point attempts. BC took a 33-31 edge on the glass, but Southern Vermont owned a 20-13 advantage in points off turnovers.

A Bromirski three put SVC up 7-4, however a Becker three sparked a 9-0 BC run that put the hosts up by four. Scoring went back-and-forth as the Hawks maintained their separation, but Becker then registered six unanswered points to take what would be their biggest lead of the night (25-16). A Hamlet free throw was followed by Borders' first three of the night to cut it back to five, only to have BC respond with a trey of its own on the next possession.

The baskets from downtown would continue, however, as Borders answered with another triple to start a 12-2 Mountaineer run that gave them back the lead. Bromirski and Borders each had an additional three-pointer in that SVC surge that set the score at 32-30 in favor of Southern Vermont. Free throws were traded in the final 1:13 of the half for the Mountaineers to go into the locker room on top 34-32.

Becker came out of the intermission and notched a three on the opening possession to regain the upper hand, but Hamlet dropped a layup on the next trip down the floor before Bromirski completed an and-one play for a four-point SVC edge. Southern Vermont slowly started to pull away through the opening 10 minutes of the second half, a pair of Goldsmith layups starting an 8-2 Mountaineer spurt for a 49-42 advantage at the 14:07 mark.

Six straight Becker points would cut it back to a one-possession game at 52-50, but SVC then stormed to a 14-2 run to push it back to double digits. That stretch included 11 points from the Southern Vermont bench, six points coming from junior Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) and another five from the hand of sophomore Daemond Carter (Forestville, Md.). Scores were traded until a Hall layup gave SVC its biggest lead of the night at 72-56 with 4:14 to go.

BC closed the gap once again, notching the next eight points for a 13-2 run to make it just a five-point deficit with 1:05 on the clock. Hamlet would make 1-of-2 free throws to give SVC a six-point upper hand, forcing Becker to use a timeout; the Hawks came out of the stoppage and were able to knock down a three-pointer as time waned. A missed Mountaineer free throw in the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity allowed BC to run the floor and get up a last-chance three, but it would go wayward with just seconds left. Despite a Hawk getting the offensive board, the final horn sounded before he could get off a second attempt for SVC to finish off its fifth straight win.