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Elms claims Hight Chevrolet Tournament title

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CHAMPIONSHIP TILT: Elms College, (Chicopee, MA) teammates Malakie Berry (51) and Ronald Thomas (23) double-team University of Maine at Farmington’s Pat Howell, Saturday afternoon, in Dearborn Gymnasium. Elms forced UMF into 25 turnovers while winning the Hight Tournament championship, 81-67. (Arin McLaughlin photo)

Tournament round-up 
By Marc Meyers/UMF

FARMINGTON  — Tournament MVP Javon Mathis (West Hartford, CT) tallied 16 points as 25th-ranked Elms College defeated the University of Maine at Farmington 81-67 to claim the Hight Chevrolet Men’s Basketball Tournament championship Saturday at Dearborn Gymnasium.

 Mathis was joined by teammate Antoine Holder (Hartford, CT) on the All-Tournament Team. Farmington’s Andrew Dean (Gorham, ME), Farmington’s Josh Tanguay (Gorham,ME), Newbury’s Kevin Cleveland (Lynn, MA) and UMPI’s Ray Mitchell (Cleveland, OH) rounded out the All-Tournament Team.

Newbury held off the University of Maine at Presque Isle for a 92-78 win in the consolation game.

Elms 81, Farmington 67

The Blazers (4-0) used a first-half run to build a double-digit lead and hung on to down the Beavers (1-1).

Following Mathis, Malakie Berry (Enfield, CT) chipped in 10 points for Elms with Holder adding nine points. The Blazers were again strong on defense, posting 24 steals with Aswad Thomas (Hartford, CT) collecting four steals.

Eric Lelansky (Portland, ME) led the Beavers with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while Eric Taylor (Oakland, ME) supplied 14 points off the bench. Tanguay pitched in with nine points and seven rebounds. Taylor and Roy Burdin (Guilford, ME) each also grabbed seven boards as Farmington had a 36-35 edge off the glass.

The contest was tight in the early stages with back-to-back layups by Taylor giving the Beavers a 15-12 lead with 12:20 left until intermission. The Blazers tightened their defense and went on a 9-0 run over a three-minute course with a Berry one-hand slam punctuating the run and a 21-15 advantage for the visitors. Elms used a 10-2 spurt later in the frame to expand its advantage to 49-35 at halftime.

The Elms’ lead ballooned to 21 points right out of intermission with a Juan Alverio (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) three giving the Blazers the 56-35 command. Farmington spent the second half chiseling away at the lead, but the Blazers proved too strong in pulling out the victory.

Newbury 92, UMPI 78

Cleveland posted a double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds, while also dealing out seven assists, in Newbury’s consolation game win over the University of Maine at Presque Isle today.

John Rowley Jr. (Hartford, CT) scored 22 points to help the Nighthawks (1-2), who need to survive a late UMPI rally to earn the win. Newbury led 48-33 at intermission and pushed the advantage to 75-45 with 10:41 left in the contest. The Owls battled back and knocked the lead down to 86-75 with 2:15 remaining in the game, but Rowley scored six of the game’s final eight points in sealing the win.

Mitchell was huge for UMPI (0-2) with 36 points and 16 rebounds, while Ronald Spencer (Chicago, IL) added 20 points.

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