BENNINGTON, Vt. — A balanced scoring attack saw the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team drain a team record 20 three-pointers Saturday afternoon as SVC wrapped up its regular season schedule with a 110-57 win over Daniel Webster College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
SVC connected on six of its first seven shots from downtown in the opening seven minutes of play, storming out to a comfortable 33-2 lead that the Mountaineers would carry on to the sizeable victory. Southern Vermont went ahead 64-22 before halftime and then closed out the final 20 minutes with the upper hand to complete its second straight undefeated Conference schedule.
Saturday also served as SVC's Senior Day as the team recognized and honored its five departing players and student manager prior to tip-off: William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.), Casey Hall (Albany, N.Y.), DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.), Jeff James (Bowie, Md.), Antoine White (Bethesda, Md.), and Ryan McNall.
Southern Vermont improves its record on the year to 22-3 and 16-0 in NECC play, extending its winning streak to 14 games; the Mountaineers have now taken their last six meetings with the Eagles. DWC finishes the regular season at 11-14 overall and 8-8 in league action with the loss.
The Mountaineers now have a chance to rest and prepare for next weekend's semifinal and championship rounds to be played at SVC February 26 and 27; Southern Vermont will play in the first semifinal matchup of Friday night at 6 p.m., its opponent to be determined by the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday night. Daniel Webster awaits the announcement of the tournament bracket that will tell whether the Eagles hit the road Tuesday evening for a first round playoff or host the tournament opener.
Six SVC players reached double figures in the points column, being led by Bromirski who tied the game-high of 17 points on a 5-for-9 performance from beyond the arc. Sophomore Daemond Carter (Forestville, Md.) followed with 16 points in 16 minutes off the bench, adding three rebounds and two assists to his line while going 5-for-5 from downtown. Hamlet had 14 points and five boards while Hall notched 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year. Hamlet became just the third Mountaineer from either the men's or women's program to ever crack the 1,500 career point mark, now totaling 1,512 in his time at SVC.
James dished out a game-best five assists for Southern Vermont while junior Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 16 minutes of reserve time. Fellow juniorErvin Cook (Bethesda, Md.) also came off the bench to notch a career-high 13 points for the Mountaineers, doing so in just 11 minutes of action.
Daniel Webster senior Khial Watson (Ann Harbor, Mich.) led the Eagles with 17 points to tie Bromirski, pulling down a team-high six rebounds in the effort. Junior Ralston Morris (Baton Rouge, La.) had another 15 points and five boards for the Eagles, and freshman James Howell (Athens, Ga.) tied Watson's six rebounds off the bench. Freshman Raynard Richardson (Louisa, Va.) had six points and five rebounds in just seven minutes of reserve time, and classmate Malik Malcolm (Milton, Mass.) had seven points and five boards on the day.
Southern Vermont shot 47.1 percent (33-70) from field goal range while holding DWC to a 33.3 percent (19-57) clip on the floor. SVC went 20-for-38 (52.6 percent) from three-point range as the Eagles were just 4-for-21 (19 percent) from the outside. The Mountaineers grabbed a slim 45-43 edge on the boards and won the turnover battle by a 23-9 margin. SVC totaled 13 steals to DWC's three, using those takeaways to outscore the Eagles 33-8 in points off turnovers. Daniel Webster had a 16-12 edge in second-chance points and registered 30 points in the paint to Southern Vermont's 18.
The Mountaineers never trailed at any point of the day, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage with three-balls from the right edge of the arc off the hands of Hamlet and freshman Josh Borders (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.). After a DWC timeout, the Eagles got on the board with a layup by freshman Frank Dempsey (Orlando, Fla.), but that would the closest Daniel Webster would get the rest of the afternoon as SVC stormed to a comfortable cushion. Bromirski downed his first triple of the day, and Hall then went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in a 10-second span to put Southern Vermont on top 13-2.
James made a steal on the defensive side a minute later and sent a home run pass down to Hamlet, the senior big man then slamming down a monster dunk on the other end of the floor to electrify the Mountaineer bench and fan base. The long-range success continued for SVC as Bromirski, Hall and junior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) all recorded three-pointers in a span of a minute, putting the hosts up big at 25-2 with 13:16 to go in the first half. Goldsmith and Taylor then added another pair of treys under the 12:00 mark before Daniel Webster got in on the deep scoring action with threes by Morris and freshman Alex Grant(Silver Spring, Md.).
Southern Vermont opened it up to a 51-11 upper hand with a 16-3 run, Cook scoring seven straight points as he downed a deep basket before hitting all three free throws after getting fouled on another long-range attempt. Hall hit his second trey of the day before Carter connected on three downtown attempts in the final 2:08 of the period, his last being a buzzer-beating runner at the top of the arc that sent the game to halftime with SVC firmly in front at 64-22.
Neither side tallied consecutive scores in the onset of the second stanza until a Bromirski triple sparked a 9-0 Mountaineer run. The teams then continued to trade baskets before Carter dropped a pair of threes on two Goldsmith passes in just 14 seconds of clock time. DWC notched six straight points, those being capped by a fast-break dunk by Morris, but Southern Vermont responded with 13 unanswered points to eclipse the 100-point plateau for the seventh time this season; Bromirski scored eight straight points in that run with a pair of buckets from the perimeter, his second putting SVC on top 102-42 at the 4:34 mark. Watson had seven points during a 9-3 DWC spurt late in the game, only to see treys by Cook and sophomore Patrick McGovern (Cheshire, England) close out the win and give Southern Vermont its most points since February 3, 2015 (at home vs. Newbury College).