MBB Falls Short in Comeback Bid at Newbury

BROOKLINE, Mass. - The Newbury College men's basketball team stopped a six game skid, defeating Mitchell College, 64-58, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action on Saturday evening.

Newbury guard Tim Young became the fourth player in the history of the men's basketball program to register 1,000 career points, tallying 10 on the day. Young entered the game against the Mariners with 991 points in his three-year career wearing green and gold. Strong defense limited him to just two points in the first half, but he was not going to be denied of the opportunity of registering the elusive career milestone on his home court. 

Four minutes into the second period, the crowd erupted when Young launched a trey from the top of the key to climb within five points of 1,000. Moments later he continued to inch closer to his goal when a technical foul on Mitchell senior Alex Vess sent him to the charity stripe. In his only trip to the line of the game, Young knocked down both free throw attempts to give the Nighthawks a five-point lead at the time.

Two possessions later, following a Mariners turnover, guard Steve Rosemond found a wide open Young in the corner in front of the Nighthawks bench for the junior's 1,001st career point.

However, it was not all about Young. Early on in the contest when it appeared as if Mitchell was going to dominate the offensive glass all day after ripping down back-to-back offensive boards, Jason Marshall stepped up his game. Marshall was a force in the post, ripping down seven first half rebounds before picking up his second foul midway through the half. He finished the game two points shy of his third double-double of the year, notching eight points while grabbing 12 boards.

While the first half belonged to Marshall, the second half went to the two Brockton natives, Young and Kwame Thompson. Thompson registered a team-high 11 points in the second half; but the play of the day game came when he picked the pocket of sophomore forward Joshua Ford with 38 seconds left on the clock.

At the time, momentum appeared to have shifted towards Mitchell as the Mariners were in the midst of an 11-2 run with three minutes remaining. Senior guard Paul Jefferson knocked down a long range trey to pull the Mariners to within one. Moments later, Jefferson picked off Rosemond for his first steal of the game as the Mariners looked to be in the process of coming all the way back. 

But Thompson stayed composed on defense. After knocking the ball away form Ford, Thompson was poised to take it back down the court for the fast-break bucket before being fouled by Mitchell sophomore guard Alex Del Rio. Thompson sealed the six-point Nighthawk victory by knocking down three of four form the charity stripe in crunch time, with under 40 seconds left to play.

Newbury improved to 5-10 with the win and 2-5 in conference action while Mitchell fell to 5-9 and 3-5 in the NECC.

Mitchell will next play at Regis College on Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m.