BENNINGTON, Vt. – Holding off a late run by Mitchell College that saw the visitors cut their deficit to just three points, Southern Vermont College took to a 78-68 win in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball showdown at the Mountaineer Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.
SVC also celebrated Senior Day, recognizing guard Edimil Sanchez (Bronx, N.Y.) prior to tip-off.
With the season sweep of Mitchell, Southern Vermont finishes the regular season with a 16-9 overall record and a 10-6 mark in the NECC. The Mariners fall to 16-6 on the season, 11-3 in league play. The .625 conference winning percentage is the best for SVC since the 2010-11 year in which the Mountaineers were 9-5 (.643).
Freshman guard Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) led the Mountaineers with 18 points while coming off the bench, adding four rebounds and three assists before fouling out. The Mariners had four players with at least 10 points including senior forward Joshua Ford (Jersey City, N.J.) who tallied a game-high 21; he also added 15 rebounds for the double-double while MC junior forward Parris Hill (Stockton, Calif.) recorded 19 points and pulled down a game-best 24 boards.
Southern Vermont was able to notch a 41.2 percent clip from the field (28-68) while holding the Mariners to just a 26.1 field goal percentage (23-88) on the defensive end. Mitchell owned a slight 60-52 advantage on the boards and tallied 23 second-chance points to SVC's 11. Both sides had 34 points in the paint, but the Mountaineer's depth led to the win as SVC's bench scored 45 points while no Mitchell reservist made the point column.
Freshman Eddie Mack III (Hartford, Conn.) added 16 points from the pine for Southern Vermont while freshman center Blair Manners (Auckland, New Zealand) added eight and a team-high 14 rebounds. Sophomore captain Antoine White (Germantown, Md.) chipped in with nine points and five boards while dishing out a game-best seven assists; that effectively places him as the SVC single season assist record holder with 111, topping Chris Matte's mark of 109. Junior forward Izzy Melton (Silver Spring, Md.) came off the bench to net six points and grab 10 rebounds in the win.
Mariner sophomore guard Frank Martin (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) ended the day with 14 points, and senior forward Anthony Epps (Norwalk, Conn.) added 11 points and eight rebounds in the effort.
Southern Vermont held its largest lead of the day with 13:11 to go in the game, a 54-36 advantage after Melton knocked down a jumper out of an SVC timeout. From there, however, Mitchell made a 9-1 run over the next three minutes to close it to 55-45. Mack ended that stretch by taking a pass from White and hitting one from deep, but MC responded with nine unanswered including a slam by Ford to make it a 58-54 Mountaineer lead.
After Taylor hit a pair of free throws with 4:12 on the clock to make it 62-56, Mariner senior guard Alex Del Rio Jr. (New Britain, Conn.) spotted up and drained a three-ball to make it a one-possession game. Not to be deterred and let Mitchell continue its momentum, Southern Vermont sophomore forward Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Md.) went strong to the hoop, getting the layup to count, after official deliberation, while drawing the foul. He knocked down the free throw to give SVC a 65-59 lead with 3:01 remaining in regulation.
Mitchell would once again cut it to a six-point deficit at 68-62 with a pair of freebies by Hill, but the Mountaineers continued to convert on the offensive end to disallow MC from getting any closer the rest of the way. A pair of free throws by Olugbile would seal the deal as Southern Vermont handed Mitchell just its third conference loss of the season, a 78-68 final.
The early going of the game saw a back-and-forth battle that most expected with Ford giving the Mariners a 6-2 lead after an and-one play just a minute and a half into the contest. That would be Mitchell's biggest lead of the game, however, as Southern Vermont started to get its offense clicking, taking a 19-12 lead after Mack swiped the ball and fed freshman guard Brandon Casella (Pittsfield, Mass.) who nailed a three with 11:05 to go in the first.
Mitchell stayed close after a pair from the line by Ford made it 24-18, but the Mountaineers scored the next eight points to open it up to 32-18 with 4:51 left in the stanza. Epps would hit one-of-two free throws at the 1:58 mark, but Southern Vermont closed out the half with seven unanswered points to take a commanding 39-24 lead into the break.
Taylor led all players at intermission with 11 points while Hill and Ford had seven apiece; Hill added 11 of his rebounds in the first half. Southern Vermont had six steals in the first 20 minutes while Mitchell was held without a takeaway. The Mountaineers were 4-of-8 from three-point distance in the first, helping support a 40.0 field goal percentage (14-35).
The Mountaineers now await the NECC postseason seeding, still do be determined by the remainder of the schedules around the league through next Saturday. Mitchell turns to a 6 p.m. tip on Wednesday at Elms College.
SVC Men's Basketball poses with senior Edimil Sanchez (center) with his Senior Day gift
