Leicester, Mass. –  Elms College defeated Southern Vermont 88-71 in New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball semifinal action tonight on the campus of Becker College. With the win Elms will face #1 seed Becker College tomorrow at 2pm for the championship.

Southern Vermont finishes their season with a 16-10 record, while Elms will improve to 19-7.

Elms top players were senior forward Juan Alverio who scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Edgar Martinez added 21 points and Brittain Purcelle poured in 16 points.

With the game tied at 17-17 Elms would go on an 8-0 run to build a 25 -17 lead with just under 9 minutes remaining in the half. Baskets by Edgar Martinez, Kurt Steiner and Cecil Avant spurred the run. Southern Vermont responded with a Derrick Cenicola three point play and a Taeshon Johnson jumper to make the score  25-22. With 4:35 remaining in the half Brittain Purcelle hit from inside the paint twice to build the Blazer lead to 32-26. The Mountaineers outscored the Blazers 15-12 over the remaining time to cut the lead to 44-41 at the half.

Elms opened the second half with baskets by Martinez, Purcelle and Juan Alverio to take a 50-41 lead.  Southern Vermont cut the lead down to 54-50 just five minutes into the half but Elms broke the game open with a 15-6 run to increase the lead to 69-56 at with 9:30 elapsed in the second half. The Blazers had a 77-57 advantage with 5:00 remaining.

Leaders for Southern Vermont were Derrick Cenicola with a game high 29 points and Taeshon Johnson with 17 points. Junior Ben Naaktgeboren had a game high 12 rebounds.

Elms held the shooting advantage 44% to 37% and controlled the boards over Mountaineers 45-39.