Mountaineers Down Nighthawks In NECC Barnburner

BENNINGTON, Vt. - The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team prevailed over visiting New England Collegiate Conference rival Newbury College 77-75 in a barnburner that had the 300-plus crowd on its feet until the final buzzer. Southern Vermont led by as much as 22 in the first half, but the Nighthawks scored 47 in the second half to cut the lead to two points with :05 left to play. SVC was led by junior guard Lance Spratling who had a team-high 25 points in the win.

Less than two minutes into the game freshman guard Derrick Cenicola lofted a sweet assist to senior forward Joe Karnik who slam dunked it to get the crowd going early. The Mountaineers had an explosive first half jumping out to a 30-9 lead with 7:39 left in the half. Spratling and Karnik led the way for Southern Vermont, who is seeking an NECC playoff berth in the weeks to come, with a combined 27 points. The Nighthawks soon found the right tempo and went on a 19-11 run, which cut the Mountaineers lead to 13 going into the half (41-28).

Newbury was not ready to throw in the towel as it slowly chipped away at Southern Vermont's lead in the second half on five triples from freshman guard Timothy Young and Senior guard Samuel Stanford. Two free throws by Young cut the deficit to two with 3:24 remaining, as he led the Nighthawks in the second half tallying a stellar 21 points.

Spratling came back with a layup to make it four points and Karnik went to the line twice making 3-of-4 to give the Mountaineers a seven point lead. Young carried Newbury to within two again with a layup and a triple with only :34 remaining on the clock. With only seven seconds left Spratling stole the ball but got tangled up with Newbury defenders drawing the jump ball which was in the Nighthawks favor. Newbury drew up a play for Stanford in the ensuing timeout executing it to the T but the desperation three bounced off the rim as time expired and SVC was victorious.

Karnik had the games lone double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Brett Clatworthy had a solid off the bench for SVC finishing with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting in only 16 minutes of play. Cenicola had a well-rounded day scoring 11, grabbing five boards, tossing four assists, and stealing the ball three times.

Young ended the night with 30 points on a stellar 10-of-17 shooting, including five triples for the Nighthawks. Chris Torres shot 50% from the field and scored 15, while Stanford chipped in 13 points, four assists, and four steals for Newbury

Both teams shot well from the field with SVC finishing with 48.1% and Newbury with 53.8%. 

The win improves SVC to 7-15 (4-8 NECC), while Newbury falls to 6-16 overall (4-7 NECC). SVC now holds the seventh spot in the Conference and Newbury remains in sixth place. If Southern Vermont wins its final two Conference games versus Lesley University (Thursday, February 18th, 7 p.m., in the Field House) and Mitchell College then it should easily hold a spot in the top six, thus making the NECC playoffs.

- Game story submitted by Joseph Frey, Sports Information Director - Southern Vermont College

- Game photo provided by Samantha Yanofsky