CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team shot 62.7 percent from the floor Saturday afternoon en route to a 91-60 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win over Elms College at Picknelly Arena.
SVC led 52-31 at the half and extended the separation through the final 20 minutes to sweep the regular season series with the Blazers.
The Mountaineers (13-5, 7-3 NECC) are back on the road for their next game as they visit Eastern Nazarene College on Monday for a rescheduled 6 p.m. league showdown.
Four SVC players reached double figures—being led by junior Damon Daniel (Gaithersburg, Md.) who had a career-high 17 points, three rebounds, and three assists. Sophomore Donnell Frayer Jr. (Upper Marlboro, Md.) added 14 points and four boards while classmate Kajuan Kinsey (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) provided another 14 points in 23 minutes off the bench. Senior Andre Hodo (Silver Spring, Md.) posted 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds in the win.
The Mountaineers went 32-51 from the floor to post the program's best field goal percentage since accurate game-by-game statistics started being tracked in 2007-08. SVC also tacked up a 56 percent (14-25) clip from outside the perimeter. On the other end, EC went 23-55 (41.8 percent) on field goal attempts. Southern Vermont grabbed a 27-24 edge in rebounds and outscored Elms 27-10 in points off turnovers. The Mountaineers used their transition game to register a 26-9 upper hand in fast-break points.
The Blazers hit back-to-back triples early on for a six-point advantage, but SVC came back with 11 unanswered points to go on top. The Mountaineers would connect on seven shots from downtown in the opening half—Daniel, Kinsey, and senior Kyle Depollar (Rockville, Md.) hitting two apiece—to bump their lead up to 21 at the break. Southern Vermont went 19-25 (76 percent) from the floor in the opening half.
SVC knocked down another seven 3-pointers in the second period with the bench providing four of those. The game was never in doubt for the Mountaineers through the half as they prevented Elms from sustaining any momentum. Southern Vermont's average margin of victory over Elms this year was 27 points, and SVC has now taken nine of the last 10 meetings between the two sides.
– #LetsGoSVC –