CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Southern Vermont College held on to defeat Pine Manor College 88-79 Tuesday night in non-conference men's basketball action at Brunelli Court.

After SVC went to the intermission ahead 46-28, the Gators made a push to overtake the Mountaineers in the second period. Southern Vermont was able to hold off PMC, however, for the victory.

The Mountaineers improve to 3-1 and now look ahead to the weekend's Ed Hockenbury Classic hosted by Norwich University; SVC will take on Trinity College at 8 p.m. on Saturday in the opening round.

Leading all players in points was SVC senior Andre Hodo (Silver Spring, Md.) who posted a career-best 23 while grabbing 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the year; he also had five steals and three assists. Sophomore Donnell Frayer Jr. (Upper Marlboro, Md.) followed with 21 points as senior Josh Borders (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) notched 14 points and five rebounds. Senior Kyle Depollar (Rockville, Md.) also hit double figures with 13 points in the win.

Southern Vermont went 31-60 (51.7 percent) from the floor while hitting nine of 16 3-point attempts (56.3 percent). The Gators were able to grab 38 rebounds to SVC's 35, but the Mountaineers still outscored PMC 30-28 in the paint.

Neither side could find the bottom of the bucket through the opening two minutes of action, and the game then maintained a tight score until the midpoint of the half. Up 13-11, Depollar drilled the first three of 12 unanswered SVC points for a comfortable upper hand; Frayer Jr. had seven of those points including three from downtown.

The Mountaineers eventually pushed their lead to 20 late in the first period and brought a sizeable advantage to the break.

Pine Manor took to a 12-2 run to open up the second half and get within eight, but SVC answered minutes later with nine-straight points for some extra breathing room; Hodo had a pair of baskets in that stretch while Depollar knocked down another triple.

The Gators trimmed their deficit down to nine points on a handful of occasions through the end of the night, but Southern Vermont prevented them from getting any closer by responding at the other end. Depollar had 10 of his points in the second frame while the Mountaineers combined to go 14-18 from the charity stripe to remain in front.

– #LetsGoSVC –