Mountaineers Fend Off Wildcats In NECC Action, 78-75
Photo Courtesy: Bill DiLillo Photography
BENNINGTON, Vt. - The Southern Vermont College men's basketball team hosted New England Collegiate Conference foe the Wheelock College Wildcats winning 78-75 Thursday night in the Field House. Southern Vermont fended off a Wildcat rally that cut a 13 point SVC lead down to one point at the break. The driving force for SVC was senior forward Joe Karnik who had 10 points in the first seven minutes of the game, on two triples and two monster dunks.
The Wildcats jumped to an early lead despite Karnik's hot shooting until with 14:49 left in the first the two were tied at 14 all. Moments later a trey by Karnik quickly put the Mountaineers up 19-16 and the momentum shifted to SVC for the remainder of the game. Southern Vermont led by as much as 13 points with 5:45 to go in the first when the Wildcats chipped away at SVC's lead with jumpers from sophomore guard Max Kaim, freshman center Adam Russo, and a three by sophomore guard Patsy Dinuzzo to bring it within one at the break.
The second half was led by Southern Vermont for the majority of the 20 minutes but the Mountaineers never pulled away more than six points as both teams went shot for shot into the final seconds.
Karnik led SVC with 19 points, including three treys. Junior guard Lance Spratling had 18 and sophomore forward Ben Naaktgeboren had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Rounding out the Southern Vermont offense was sophomore forward Cam Herrington, freshman guard Derrick Cenicola, and sophomore guard Avery Mitchell who finished with 11 points, 10 points, and nine points in that order.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was Sherard Robbins who had a game-high 21 points and game-high 16 boards for a double-double. Main finished with 17 points going a solid 8-10 from the charity stripe. Sophomore center Eric Rice and Kaim each finished with 10 apiece.
Both teams shot well from the field with SVC finishing with 48.3% and Wheelock with 44.3%.
The win improves the Mountaineers to 6-15 (3-8 NECC), while Wildcats falls to 13-9 overall (6-5 NECC). SVC now holds the seventh spot in the Conference and the Wildcats remain in third place behind Elms College and first place Becker College. If Southern Vermont wins its final three Conference games versus Newbury College (Saturday, February 13th, 3 p.m., in the Field House), Lesley University, and Mitchell College then it should easily hold a spot in the top six and make the NECC playoffs
