BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Southern Vermont College men's basketball offense exploded for a 111-64 win over Newbury College Tuesday night in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
SVC junior DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) registered a career-best 38 points in only 18 minutes of play, topping his old best of 33 that he tallied against The Sage Colleges back in November of 2013. He went 12-19 from the field and finished with a sterling 12-13 clip from the free throw line while tying the team-high of six rebounds.
The Mountaineers are now 17-3 on the season, surpassing their win total from last year while staying perfect in league play (11-0). Newbury falls to 3-16 on the year, 2-8 in NECC action.
Also having a career night for Southern Vermont was senior Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Maryland) who notched a collegiate-best 22 points with the help of two powerful dunks to go with three boards and a pair of blocks. Junior Jeff James (Bowie, Maryland) added eight points and another six rebounds for the Mountaineers, dishing out three assists and grabbing a game-best five steals. Fellow junior Casey Hall (Albany, New York) chipped in with eight points, five rebounds and three blocks in the victory.
Nighthawk senior Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Massachusetts) recorded a team-high 27 points on the evening to go with three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals, and senior Mills Carrasco (Haverhill, Massachusetts) followed with 10 points in the effort. NC senior Cameron Owen (Concord, New Hampshire) pulled down a game-best eight rebounds while adding four points to his line.
SVC finished with a 48.8 field goal percentage (41-84) while the Nighthawks shot at a 38.2 percent clip from the floor (21-55). Southern Vermont owned a 37-29 advantage on the boards and committed only nine turnovers while forcing NC to make 32. Takeaways led to 54 points for the hosts, and they outscored Newbury 70-20 in the paint.
Early action was tight as a three-pointer by Owen put the Nighthawks ahead 5-4, but the Mountaineers responded with buckets of their own, including a three at the top of the arc by junior William Bromirski(Cambridge, New York), to go on top 11-7. After a pair of Thompson free throws, Southern Vermont took to a 13-0 run to take a comfortable lead at 24-9.
A few minutes later, Bromirski stole the Newbury inbound pass and quickly fed it to Olugbile who threw down the slam to put the MAC faithful on its feet. He then drilled a three-pointer from the left side while fading away, putting SVC ahead 33-13 with 7:14 to go in the first.
It would be Southern Vermont's game the rest of the way as the Mountaineers continued to make highlight real-quality plays after taking a 54-36 lead into the break. Newbury made its share of baskets to open the second half, but SVC's full-court pressure was too much for the Nighthawks to handle as Southern Vermont finished off one of its most dominant victories in program history.
The Mountaineers are off until Saturday when they host Mitchell College for a 3 p.m. NECC battle with SVC's annual alumni game to be held afterwards. Newbury is also in action next on Saturday, hosting Regis College for a 2 p.m. conference contest.