Mountaineers Edge Past Nighthawks

The Newbury College men's basketball team lost to Southern Vermont College Thursday evening, 65-63. Mountaineer junior Lance Spratling (Pittsfield, MA/Taconic) led the charge to victory with a game-high 19 points.

Southern Vermont jumped out early in front of Newbury behind freshman Derrick Cenicola (Hamiston, NY/Hamilton Central). Cenicola drained three of eight from behind the arc for nine points but the Nighthawks kept pace as freshman Rondell Best (Brockton, MA/Brockton) netted 10 of his team-high 15 points. But the Mountaineers took a two point, 32-30 lead into the locker room behind a lay-up by sophomore Cameron Herrington (Cambridge, NY/Cambridge).

Newbury mounted a valiant second half comeback. With nine minutes left in the contest and the Nighthawks down 50-47, senior Samuel Stanford (Somerville, MA/Somerville) hit a long trey to knot up the game but the Mountaineers answered. Spratling found senior Joe Karnik (Castleton, NY/Maple Hill) under the basket for the lay-up to re-gain the lead for Southern Vermont.

The last minute of the contest belonged to Spratling and Newbury freshman Timothy Young (Brockton, MA/Brockton). When Young gave the Nighthawks the two point advantage with a jumper at 1:12, Spratling answered with a lay-up of his own. With less than 20 seconds to play Young re-gained the lead for Newbury but Spratling had the last word hitting a trey to give Southern Vermont the victory.

With the loss the Nighthawks fall to 3-4 in the conference and 5-12 overall while the Mountaineers improve to 2-4 in the NECC and 5-10 overall. Newbury will return to the hard-court this Saturday when they host the Hawks of Becker College at noon.

- Game story by Lindsay Graham - Staff Assistant

- Game photo provided by Samantha Yanofsky