CAMBRIDGE, MA – An inspired start wasn't enough for Lesley to earn a second straight win Saturday, as the Lynx fell to second-place Elms, 77-62, in New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball play.

Elms' Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, NJ/East Windsor) led all players with 20 points, shooting 6-10 from three-point range in pacing four sharp-shooting Blazers in double figures. David McDaniel (Plainfield, NJ/Rutgers Prep) scored his 14 on 3-3 shooting from distance, Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, PR/Calusa Prep) logged a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds and Cecil Avant (Southwest Ranches, FL/Cypress Bay) added 11 on 3-9 from downtown to go along with a game-high nine assists.

The Blazers held Lynx leading scorer John Sanchez (Carson, CA/Saint John Bosco) in check limiting him to 11 points on 2-9 shooting and his usual seven assists. Harold Smith (Florence, AZ/Florence) went for nine of his 13 in the second, adding a team-high eight boards, and junior Grant Cobb (Plymouth, MN/Wayzata) shot 4-6 from the field for his 11 points.

Lesley took a 5-0 lead out of the gate on jumpers from Thorton Paul, but to set the tone for a shootout of a first half, Elms answered with three triples to take a two-point lead. Gonzalez then canned three-pointers on consecutive possessions to put the Blazers ahead 17-10 at the 13:00 mark. His third three of the half made it a 24-19 game with 8:50 in the half, but Cobb's Lynx answered with a 7-0 run capped by back-to-back jumpers from the junior swingman, putting Lesley up 26-24.

It was all Blazers from there on out, as the visitors outscored Lesley 14-3 to close the half, going to intermission ahead 40-27. McDaniel hit all three of his treys in the first, leading all scorers with 13 at halftime.

The Blazers momentum carried over to the second half, as Elms kept a double-digit lead for the entire period. Another Cobb jumper cut it to a 12-point game with 18:50 left, just as a pair of Sanchez free throws did at the 11:00 mark, but the Lynx couldn't cut the margin to single digits. An even 50 percent three-point shooting (14-28) for the day kept the visitors comfortably in command, and the second-place Blazers left with the 77-62 victory.

Behind Smith's eight, another eight from Jesus Trejo and seven from freshman Kris Bennett, Lesley won the battle of the boards 43-35, but 44 percent shooting overall from Elms was too much to overcome.

Lesley (4-14, 1-7 NECC) travels to Daniel Webster Tuesday night, and Elms (13-5, 6-1) heads to Southern Vermont Monday night at 7 p.m.