Box Score CHICOPEE, Mass. - The New England College men's basketball team earned their win of 2019 after downing Elms College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play, 94-80.

The Pilgrims will improve to 9-2 on the season with a 3-0 record in the NECC while the Blazers will fall to 0-10 overall with a 0-3 record in the NECC.

NEC LEADERS
The Pilgrims were paced by Jamal Allen's career high 37-point performance. Ricky Leonard and Stephen Fama added double-digit points for the Pilgrims. Jason Jones finished with 13 rebounds which was a game-high but fell three points short of a double-double. Calvin Cheek and Alonzo Cooper had a team-high four assists each. Cheek also had a game-high seven steals.

ELMS COLLEGE LEADERS
Justin Feliciano led the Blazers offense in points with 19. D.J. Edelen, Andre Peguero, and Pablo Ortiz all added double-digit point performances. Nikolas Brown grabbed nine boards for the Blazers. David Lopez finished with a game-high eight assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Leonard got the scoring started after hitting a three-point shot just 23 seconds into the contest. However, the Blazers would respond with eight straight points. The Pilgrims closed the gap to one on a pair of Fama free throws but the Blazers stretched the lead to six on two occasions before the Pilgrims closed the gap and took the lead on an Allen three-pointer. Over the next six minutes the teams battled to gain an advantage, which neither would find as neither team led by more than three at any point during that stretch. Leonard fired a three on a fastbreak, which gave the Pilgrims a four-point lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. During the remaining minutes of the half, the Pilgrims would extend their lead to 15 as the teams headed to the break.

The Pilgrims extended their lead early on a Cheek three-pointer but the Blazers rallied as they cut the lead to seven with just over 15 minutes to play. The lead with stay in the single digits until just over five minutes left in the half. Allen hit a three-point shot which gave the Pilgrims another double-digit lead. Leonard fired a three with just over two minutes remaining which gave the Pilgrims their largest lead of the contest, which was 20.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-This was the first meeting between the two schools, NEC now leads the all-time series 1-0.
-Allen set his career high in points in the last two contests, first with 26 against Simpson College and now with 37 against Elms College.

WHAT'S NEXT
Tuesday, January 8^th, at Eastern Nazarene College, 7:30 p.m.