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BANGOR – A little too much Juan Galdon and too little fundamental execution by Husson College combined to give Elms College its third straight North Atlantic Conference championship.
Tournament MVP Galdon scored 20 points and helped his Blazers hold a tenuous lead for the entire second half before breaking it open in the final two minutes and posting an 81-69 win over the Eagles at Newman Gym Saturday afternoon.
Galdon and backcourt mates David Williams and Randy Hite were like particularly stubborn horseflies buzzing into the paint regularly with dribble penetration and stinging the Eagles for layups, fouls or both.
“What made it open so early is they know we have shooters and they were spread out to defend them,” Galdon said. “Maybe they figured they’d rather give up a 2 than a 3, so I took advantage.”
“We set up a screen on top of the key and they were cheating because they knew what was coming, so I just crossed right back and had either an open lane or a pass.”
Husson coach Warren Caruso said it came down to his team not defending and rebounding effectively.
“I think the big thing is we gave up too many easy shots. They scored too easily time and time again down the floor,” Caruso explained. “Each time we had a chance to make a run, they had another easy basket because we had a breakdown on the other end. It was not our finest hour.”
The win earns the 20-8 Blazers an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Eagles, who had an 11-game winning streak snapped, finished the season at 22-6.
The game was a tight one throughout with neither team leading by more than eight points until the final 78 seconds, when Elms forced the Eagles to foul and hit 11 of 14 free throws to pull away.
As big a factor as Caldon was, it was Elms’ defense – particularly on Husson freshman center Martin Cleveland – that made the difference.
“The last time we played, Cleveland dominated us inside so our game plan coming in was to double-team him and frustrate him,” said Elms coach Ed Silva. “That was our big goal was to work from inside and shut down his game and then try to close out to the shooters.”
Starting frontcourt players Nathan Hawes and Malakie Berry teamed with Ellis Jones and Joe Esile off the bench to do just that, getting Cleveland in early foul trouble and holding him to five points on 2-for-8 shooting and three rebounds, all defensive.
Williams, another all-tourney pick, finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) shooting and 13 rebounds. Hawes tallied 11 points and nine boards.
The Eagles were paced by Tyler Muzzy of Greenville. The senior forward had 10 points and six rebounds and earned all-tourney honors along with senior guard Jason Harvey of Bucksport. He had 15 points, but struggled a bit at 6-for-18 overall and 1-for-9 from 3-point range.
“I don’t think he had good touches,” said Caruso. “He had to work hard to get 18 shots.”
Freshman guard Brock Bradford of Kenduskeag had 11 points for the Eagles.
James Parker of Lesley and Jose Guitian of Lasell were the other all-tourney choices.
BLAZERS 81, EAGLES 69
Elms (20-8) Husson (22-6)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Williams 9 14 3 5 23 Bradford 3 10 2 2 11
Galdon 7 10 4 4 20 Kissinger 2 5
Beauregrd 1 2 0 0 3 Muzzy 6 13 19
Hawes 4 6 3 5 11 Cleveland 2 5
Berry 2 5 0 0 4 Harvey 6 18 15
Hite 2 5 3 4 7 Figueroa 0 2 0
Ancrum 1 2 3 4 5 Lee 3 3 9
Davis 2 3 0 0 6 Henry 1 2 5
Kelley 0 0 0 0 0
Jones 0 2 0 0 0
Esile 1 4 0 0 2
Totals 29 53 16 22 81 Totals 23 59 13 22 69
Elms 32 81
Husson 32 69
3-pt. goals – Elms (7-15): Davis 2-2, Galdon 2-3, Williams 2-4, Beauregard 1-2, Hite 0-1, Esile 0-3; Husson (10-28): Lee 3-3, Bradford 3-8, Muzzy 2-4, Kissinger 1-2, Harvey 1-9, Figueroa 0-1, Henry 0-1
Attendance: 650 (est.)
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