MBB Falls in Season Finale to Southern Vermont

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Mitchell College men's basketball team wrapped up its season with an 86-74 loss to Southern Vermont College on Saturday afternoon at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Joe Karnik led four Mountaineers in double figures with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He also added a game-high 14 rebounds and one block. Leading the way for Mitchell was senior Eric Murray, who finished with team highs of 18 points, 13 rebounds and six steals in the final game of his career.

Mitchell ends the season with an overall record of 4-19 and 3-11 in the NECC. Southern Vermont improved to 9-15 overall and secured the fourth seed for the upcoming NECC Championship with a conference mark of 6-8.

Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, with Mitchell taking a 36-35 advantage into the locker room at the break. Murray paced the Mariners with 12 points in the stanza while Karnik and Lance Spratling combined for 27 points for the Mountaineers.

Southern Vermont took control early in the second half, grabbing the lead for good on a three-pointer from Derrick Cenicola just three minutes in. The Mariners, however, never let the Mountaineers pull away, keeping the margin to six or less until the final minutes.

Mitchell cut the deficit to one at 70-69 on a left-handed floater in the lane from senior Mike DePaolo with 3:27 to go. Cenicola fired back on the other end, draining his fourth three-pointer of the afternoon to put Southern Vermont back up by four.

Leading 73-71, the Mountaineers slammed the door behind back-to-back plays from Karnik and Avery Mitchell. Karnik put Southern Vermont up by four with a monster slam off a feed from Ben Naaktgeboren, and Avery later followed with a back-breaking three with 1:32 left to increase the lead to seven.

Southern Vermont shot 54 percent for the game and went 6-for-12 from long range. Cenicola netted all 18 of his points in the second half while Spratling finished with 16 points and a team-high seven assists. Mitchell chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds to round out the Mountaineers in double figures.

The Mariners shot 40 percent from the floor but went 0-for-15 from outside the arc, the first time all season they had finished without a trey. DePaolo ended up with 13 points in his final game while sophomore Alex Vess added 11 on 5-of-6 shooting.

Prior to the game, the Mariners honored their three seniors--Murray, DePaolo and Brian Marciniak--in a special ceremony. Murray finished his career as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,779 points while DePaolo made the most three-pointers (131) in the the school's Division III history.