BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team chalked up an 85-69 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win over Lesley University Saturday afternoon at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
SVC led 45-36 at the break, but the Lynx were able to get within five near the end of the second half. The Mountaineers proved to be too much in the final stretch, however, as they outscored LU 19-8 through the last six minutes of the game.
Southern Vermont (16-7, 10-5 NECC) wraps up the regular season on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. home game versus Mitchell College—that matchup looking to be crucial in determining playoff seeding for both teams. Lesley (2-21, 1-13 NECC) has two games left on the schedule—the first being Senior Night on Wednesday in conjunction with an 8 p.m. home tilt against Newbury College.
Prior to Saturday's tip-off, SVC celebrated its Senior Day and the hard work by six Mountaineers: Jackson Amankrah (New York City, N.Y.), Josh Borders (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Kyle Depollar (Rockville, Md.), Andre Hodo (Silver Spring, Md.), Aaron Murray (Camden, N.J.), and Rohan Piple (Germantown, Md.).
Hodo led Southern Vermont in a pair of categories as he notched 18 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Borders followed with 15 points, six boards, four assists, and three steals while Murray scored 10 points in addition to grabbing six rebounds. Sophomores Kajuan Kinsey (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) and Kiran Durant (Hampton, Va.) posted 15 and 10 points, respectively, while classmate Donnell Frayer Jr. (Upper Marlboro, Md.) had six points, eight rebounds, and a season-high seven assists.
Lesley sophomore Chase Howard (San Diego, Calif.) registered a game-best 29 points as senior Joey Martin (Melbourne, Fla.) followed with 23 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Tristen Reese (Durham, N.C.) provided eight rebounds and seven assists off the bench.
SVC went 39-74 (52.7 percent) on field goal attempts while the Lynx shot 37.1 percent (23-62) from the floor. Lesley had a 12-5 upper hand in made 3-pointers, but the Mountaineers dominated the paint by outscoring the visitors 56-14 in the key. Southern Vermont had a 21-6 advantage in points off turnovers while running the floor to notch a 14-6 difference in fast-break points.
The two sides traded downtown baskets early on with Martin's second giving LU a 14-10 edge. Southern Vermont was able to regain the lead but couldn't get much separation until the end of the half. A triple from junior Damon Daniel (Gaithersburg, Md.) capped a 7-2 SVC run which sent the hosts into their locker room on top by nine.
A bucket from beyond the perimeter by Lesley junior Treyvon Trent (Virginia Beach, Va.) helped make it a 53-48 ballgame, but Southern Vermont responded with eight unanswered points to push its lead back into double digits.
After another Trent triple sparked a 6-2 spurt later in the contest—cutting it back to five once again—SVC took control and put it away. The Mountaineers scored the next 13 points with nine coming off Kinsey's hand. The Lynx would knock down another two shots from deep to no avail as the deficit was too much to overcome.
Trent finished the day with 14 points on a 3-8 performance from 3-point range.
– #LetsGoSVC –