CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) and sophomore guard Derek Murphy (Columbia, Md.) totaled 19 points each and the Blazers connected on 47.8-percent of their shots to help clinch an 80-66 victory over Lesley University in Tuesday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.
With the win, Elms improves to 4-7 overall, 2-1 in league action, while Lesley falls to 2-9 overall, 0-3 in conference play.
Elms was a sizzling 11-of-26 from beyond the arc (42.3-percent) led by Murphy's 5-of-11 effort from long distance. Guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) hit 3-of-6 from long range off the bench and finished with 15 points while senior forward Isaiah Odunlami (Providence, R.I.) was 2-of-5 from three-point range en route to 16 points.
The Blazers outrebounded Lesley, 43-31 as Lockett corralled a game-best 10 boards, followed by eight from Odunlami and six from freshman forward Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.). Elms was also efficient in its distribution of the ball notching 19 total assists including five from Murphy and four from French.
The Lynx had three players score in double figures including Trevonn Lewis (Chicago, Ill.) who netted a team-best 13 points, followed by Kris Bennett (Inglewood, Calif.) with 12 and Branden Padgett (New Baltimore, Mich.) with 11. Bennett was also the team leader in rebounds with nine.
In the opening period, Lesley's Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, Fla.) swished a trey and Niklaus Oliver (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) converted a put-back layup to give the Lynx its only lead of the contest, 5-2, just 1:36 into the game.
Odunlami tied the game with the first of his two triples and Murphy netted his first three-pointer to give Elms an 8-5 lead. From there, the Blazers controlled the flow of the game, hitting on 57.1-percent of its shots en route to a 49-29 half time lead.
Lockett had 13 of his 19 points in the first frame, while Murphy canned three of his five treys and finished with 11 points in the half. French was also 4 of 6 off the bench with 10 points.
In the second half, Lesley chipped away at Elms' cushion and Bennett pulled the Lynx to within 15 at the 10:29 mark of the stanza when he delivered a slam dunk on a Lewis missed shot to set the score at 61-46. However, Elms answered when French and Murphy registered back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead back to 21 (67-46). The Blazers held at least a 15-point advantage for the rest of the contest until Brian Glodowski (Roseville, Calif.) drilled a trey with nine seconds left to set the final score at 80-66.
Elms is back in action on Thursday, January 9th when it travels to NECC foe Daniel Webster College at 7:00p in Nashua, N.H. The Lynx return to the floor on Saturday, January 11th when they host Southern Vermont College at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols at 7:30p.