#1 Becker Faces #2 Elms in the NECC Men's Hoops Big Game
2010-2011 NECC MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SCHEDULE
Quarterfinals • Tuesday, February 22
#6 Daniel Webster (11-13, 5-9) at #3 Southern Vermont (15-10, 9-5),
SVC 63-60
#5 Wheelock (10-15, 6-8) at #4 Newbury (10-14, 8-6), NC
68-61
* Game to be played at Hellenic College in Brookline,
Mass.
Semifinals • Friday, February 25 (Hosted by Becker College,
Leicester, Mass.)
#4 Newbury (11-14) at #1 Becker (22-3, 14-0), BC
84-75
#3 Southern Vermont (15-10) vs. #2 Elms (18-7, 11-3),
EC 88-73
Championship Game • Saturday, February 26 (Hosted by
Becker College, Leicester, Mass.)
#2 Elms (19-7) at #1 Becker (23-3), 2:00 p.m.
#1 Becker 84, #4 Newbury 75
BOX SCORE:http://www.beckerhawks.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/files/BCM26.XML
LEICESTER, Mass. – Becker College defeated Newbury College
84-75 in New England Collegiate Conference semifinal action at
Leicester Gymnasium. Four Hawks players finished in double figures.
Junior Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) had a
double double, 22 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes of action.
Senior Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD) has 12
points, tying him for second all-time in scoring (1615 points).
Newbury was led by Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) and Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) who both finished with 19 points and Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) who had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Becker’s record improves to 23-3 while Newbury will finish the season at 11-15.
The teams traded baskets for the first six minutes of action and remained tied at 8-8. Becker quickly went on an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes with a basket by Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD), 4 points by Terrance Favors (Boston, Mass.) Followed by a steal and a basket by Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) and a three pointer by Ricky Clark (New Britain, Conn.) to build a comfortable 19-8 lead. Newbury battled back in the stanza, junior guard Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) scored eight unanswered points for the Nighthawks cutting the lead to 33-26 with three minutes to play in the half. The Hawks answered back with a 6-2 run to end the half with a 40-28 lead.
Becker shot 45% to Newbury’s 42% in the half. Leggett and Torres each had 10 points in the half for their teams. The Hawks caused 16 turnovers in 20 minutes.
In the second half Becker built leads of 19 points. Newbury strung together several baskets and cut the lead to 10 points 62-52 when Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Mass.) buried a three pointer from the right side. The teams traded baskets and it was still a 10 point game when Newbury’s Torres hit a basket and a free throw with 4:35 remaining. Nighthawks guard Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) scored a layup off a Becker miss to make the game 75-67 with 3:23 left to play. On the ensuing play Becker had a backcourt violation and Newbury’s center Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) scored in the paint to make the deficit 6 points, 75-69. Becker answered with a couple of Favors’ free throws and a layup to increase the lead to 10, 79-69 with just under a minute to play.
Terrance Favors finished with 17 points and Moody Doherty (Roselle, NJ) had 14 points for Becker.
Becker will play the winner of the second semifinal between #2 Elms College and #3 Southern Vermont tomorrow at 2:00pm at Becker College for the 2011 NECC Championship.
#2 ELMS 88, #3 SOUTHERN VERMONT 73
BOX SCORE: http://athletics.elms.edu/sports/mbkb/2010-11/stats/ecm26.htm
LEICESTER, Mass. – Elms College senior forward Edgar Martinez
(Springfield, Mass.) netted a team-high 21 points to help lift the
second-seed Blazers to an 88-73 win over No. 3 Southern Vermont
College and advance to its seventh straight conference championship
game in Friday evening’s New England Collegiate Conference
(NECC) Championship tournament semifinal game on the campus of
Becker College.
With the win Elms improves to 19-7 overall and will face top-seeded Becker College (23-3) in the NECC Championship tournament title game on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 2:00 p.m. Southern Vermont, meanwhile, concludes its season 16-11 overall.
In the opening 20 minutes, both teams shot above 40-percent as Elms maintained a lead throughout the majority of the frame and produced its largest lead of the half (eight points) when sophomore guard Brittain Purcelle (Tarrytown, N.Y.) nailed a jumper at the 4:46 mark to set the score at 32-24.
A jumper by Southern Vermont’s Derrick Cenicola (Hamilton, N.Y.) and a pair of free throws by Lance Spratling (Pittsfield, Mass.) cut the Blazers’ lead to four with 3:59 to play in the period before Elms’ junior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Mass.) answered with a trey four seconds later to extend the lead back to seven.
Another strike from beyond the arc, this time by Blazers’ senior guard Arsenio Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) set the score at 38-32 with 2:59 on the clock before the Mountaineers scored nine of the final 15 points of the stanza to pull to within three (44-41) at halftime.
Elms posted a pair of early nine-point leads in the second half with the second of the two coming by way of a Purcelle mid-range jumper at the 16:12 mark to give the Blazers a 54-45 lead. Taeshon Johnson (Pittsfield, Mass.) answered with a jumper 13 seconds later and Cenicola buried a three-pointer at the 14:29 mark to close the gap to 54-50. Johnson then responded to a pair of made free throws by Elms senior forward Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) with a layup underneath to keep the deficit at four (56-52) until the Blazers used a 17-4 run over the next 4:56 to take a commanding 17-point 73-56 lead.
From there, Elms was a maintained at least a 15-point lead and used two Alverio foul shots at the 4:34 mark to stake its largest lead of the contest (23 points) to establish an 80-57 cushion to help propel the Blazers to Saturday’s championship contest.
Martinez connected on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor, while
Purcelle finished with 16 points
in the winning effort.
Alverio recorded a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while senior guard Cecil Avant (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) added eight points.
Arsenio Avant and Gonazalez each contributed seven points off the bench as the Blazers shot 45.2-percent from the field for the game.
Cenicola scored a game-best 29 points on the strength of five three-pointers to highlight three Mountaineers in double figures.
Johnson added 17 points, while Spratling netted 14 and grabbed seven rebounds. Ben Naaktgeboren (Cambridge, N.Y.) hauled a game-high 12 boards in defeat for Southern Vermont.
LINKS:
BECKER TOURNAMENT SITE
BECKER LIVE STATS
Southern Vermont vs. Daniel Webster Game Program
Newbury vs. Whelock Game Program
Championship Packet and Directions
Game One Box Score: http://www.svcathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/boxscores/20110222_4fzt.xml
Game Two Box Score: http://www.wheelockwildcats.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/files/wcm26.htm
