WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Clarkson University withstood a 10-1 opening burst from the Elms Blazers in the Purple & Gold Invitational at Williams College and fought back to tie the contest at the half at 32.
Elms broke on top in the second half building a quick four-point lead on layups by Carson Miller and Juan Alverio and never looked back in defeating Clarkson 73-61.
Elms improved to 6-3 on the year, while the Golden Knights of Clarkson fall to 6-3.
Elms 10-1 lead came at 17:25 when Edgar Martinez squirted through the lane for a layup. The Golden Knights began their climb back in the game when Rey Jefferson hit a three and Jonathan Hood converted a layup at 16:52 to cut the margin to four, 10-6.
Elms then put together a 12-2 lead capped by another Martinez layin at 9:22. The Golden Knights then got a three-pointer from Marques Charlton. Jonathan then exerted his influence on the half with two layups.
With 5:19 to play in the half elms led 28-22, Felix Llanos hit a three, Hood added two free throws and a long three by Rey Jefferson with 55 seconds left gave Clarkson a 32-30 lead forcing a Blazer timeout.
Out of the timeout the Blazers converted on a layup Brittain Purcelle with 41 seconds left. Neither team could score the rest of the half, swapping turnovers.
Hood and Llanos led the Golden Knights with 9 points, while the Blazers were led by Cecil Avant who hit all three of his threes.
Clarkson hit only 30% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, 10-33, while the blazers netted 41%, 12-29.
Elms held a four-rebound advantage at the break 22-18 with Bryant Corcoran the high man with 7. Hood topped the Golden Knights with 5.
A deep three by Cecil Avant gave the Blazers a 5-point lead at 41-36 with 16:03 remaining.
At 13:55 Juan Alverio worked his way through the lane for a layup to boost the build the Elms lead back to 5 at 45-40.
A free throw by the Blazers' David McDaniel at 8:00 gave Elms a 55-50 lead, but it was quickly erased by two free throws by Clarkson's Rey Jefferson.
Cecil Avant hit two free throws at 9:26 to put Elms back up 52-50. The lead grew to four on a spinning bank shot by Brittain Purcelle.
At 6:34 Arsenio Avant laid in a turnover by Clarkson streaking in from the left to make it 57-50 Elms and forcing the Golden Knights to call time to talk it over.
Edgar Martinez rebounded a Cecil Avant miss and scored on a put back to boost the Elms lead to 59-50.
At 4:48 Bryant Corcoran scored on a reverse lead and got fouled. Converting the free throw gave Elms a 63-52 lead. After a long three from the right side by Felix Llanos to cut the Elms lead to 63-58 with 4:16 to play Elms head coach Ed Silva called a full timeout.
From the timeout Elms worked the ball inside to Juan Alverio and he scored in traffic and was fouled at 4:09. The successful free throw by Alverio gave Elms an 11-point lead 66-55.
Cecil Avant led Elms with 16 points and featured 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Juan Alverio added 14 for the Blazers, while Bryant Corcoran aided the blazers in building a 9-reoubnd advantage on the glass, 42-33 hauling in 10.
Clarkson was led Jonathan Hood who tallied a game-high 17. Rey Jefferson chipped in with 14, Felix Llanos added 12 and Marques Charlton netted 10. Hood led the Golden Knights on the glass snaring 9 rebounds.
The Elms defense held Clarkson to 34% shooting on the night from the floor, 18-53. The Blazers connected on 26 of 59 shots for 44%.
Williams will play Elms College tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m., while Westfield will battle Clarkson at 3:00 p.m.
