Nighthawks Drop Regular Season Finale to Mountaineers

BENNINGTON, VT. – The Newbury College men’s basketball team dropped their season finale to Southern Vermont College, 82-71, Saturday afternoon but earn a post-season berth. Mountaineer senior guard Lance Spratling paved the way to victory registering a game-high 29 points.

The first half of the game was an offensive battle as each team shot over 50% from the field. Newbury went 17-24 shooting a blistering 70.8% while the Mountaineers went 17-28 from the field, 60.7%. The shooting advantage for the Nighthawks gave them a 2 point advantage into the break. In the second half it was all the Mountaineers though as SVC outscored Newbury 39-26.  Spratling led the way for the Mountaineers in the second half scoring 20 of his 29 points in the frame.

SVC was led by a balanced attack throughout the game as five players scored in double figures. Taeshon Johnson scored 19 points to go along with 12 from Avery Mitchell, and 10 each from Ben Naaktgeboren and Derrick Cenicola.

Newbury sophomore Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass./Madison Park) scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Nighthawks with a double-double. Fellow sophomore Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) followed up netting 21 points while senior John Rowley Jr. (Hartford, Conn./Rockville) rounded out the trio in double figures tallying 17.

The Nighthawks drop to 10-14 on the season and 8-6 in the conference and earn the fourth seed in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Tournament next week. Newbury will host the fifth seeded Wheelock College Tuesday evening at 7:00pm.

- Game story provided by: Leanne Baker, Sports Information Director - Southern Vermont College

- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky