Story courtesy of Rob Palardy, Assistant Athletic Director
for Sports Information
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – An explosive second half by the Elms
College men’s basketball team lifted the Blazers to a 79-58
victory over Lesley University. Elms outscored Lesley 45-25 in the
second half after holding just a one-point advantage at
halftime.
Lesley dropped to 7-14 (4-6 NECC) while Elms improved to 17-6 (10-2
NECC).
Sophomore point guard John Sanchez (CARSON, Calif./Saint
John Bosco) scored a team-high 13 points for the Lynx and
added four assists and three steals. Sanchez did most of his damage
in the first five minutes of the game, scoring 10 points to help
lead Lesley to a 16-3 advantage.
With a 13-point lead, Elms worked their way back in the game thanks
to Javon Mathis (EAST HAMPTON, Conn./Plainville)
and Juan Maldonado (HOLYOKE, Mass./Holyoke) who
scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the first half. Maldonado
hit 3-of-6 three-point attempts in the period while Mathis
dominated the boards, grabbing seven of his game-high 14 rebounds.
The Blazers regained the lead late in the first half and held a
34-33 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, Elms took advantage of 11 Lesley turnovers,
shot 51.4% from the field, and outrebounded the Lynx 25-13 leading
to a dominant period. Maldonado had another solid half with 11
points and finished with game-high 21.
Mathis ended with a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds as
well as two blocks and two steals on the defensive end.
Edgar Martinez (SPRINGFIELD, Mass./Central)
chipped in with nine points while Antoine Holder (HARTFORD,
Conn./A.I. Prince Technical) came off the bench to score
nine points of his own.
Lesley’s Shawn Simmons (NORWALK, Conn./Brian
McMahon) had a solid game off the bench with nine points
in 16 minutes. Senior Alex Green (BATON ROUGE, La./Robert
E. Lee) netted eight points, grabbed eight rebounds, and
tallied four steals.
Lesley will be back in action on Saturday, February 13 against
Becker College starting at 2:00 pm. The game will be played in
Leicester, Massachusetts. Elms next hosts Mitchell College on
Saturday, February 13.