Warriors Catch Elks for Sixth Straight Win

The Nelson Warriors hunted down and caught Elk tonight at the Scott Activity Center, earning a 99-60 victory over visiting Stanton University, although snapping their season-best four-game streak of 100+ point games by just a single point. Although any doubt of the outcome would quickly be put to rest, the two teams fought to an early 5-5 tie before a quick 18-2 run by Nelson before the 11 minute mark gave the Warriors a comfortable cushion they would never relinquish. "We got out of the gates hot and carried that momentum throughout the game," noted head coach Kole Ebert. "Our guys love to use their defense to spur offensive outbursts, and they executed that to perfection early on. Once we got the early momentum, we were able to settle in and play our game the rest of the way."

Leading by 26 points at half, the Warriors opened the season stanza on a quick 10-2 burst in just 1:45, then used an additional 22-5 run just minutes later to build a game-high 51-point lead with ten minutes remaining.

Harley Upton finished with a game-high 33 points including 5-9 from beyond the arc, stretching his season-long streak of making at least one 3 in every game to 24 games. This streak is most impressive because of the efficiency in his shot-making ability. Shooting 43.8% from 3 is not just his career-high, which also leads the team, but ranks third in the NCCAA with a minimum of 100 attempts, while his total of 69 made 3's also ranks third in the nation.

In an interesting statistical quirk, Rob Jenkins and Zaveion Bineyard finished with identical statlines of 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. Terrin Ross just missed out on his sixth double-double of the season finishing with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Led by Orlando Gonzales' 8, the starting lineup accumulated 21 of the team's 30 assists, an outcome that pleased coach Ebert. "We passed the ball really well tonight. We were making the unselfish pass to the open man, and we handled it really well, turning it over only 13 times."

Larry Holmes led the truncated bench unit this evening with his exceptionally balanced play. Scoring 13 points, grabbing 7 boards, dishing out 5 assists, snagging 4 steals, and blocking 2 shots, marked the third time in his previous four games that he has accumulated such an outcome, causing some of the older basketball fans in the Valley to harken back memories of Jason Kidd.

Only two Elks finished in double-figures scoring, Justin Boateng who led Stanton with 24 points and 6 rebounds, and Mehmet Ertugrul Asik who finished with 12.

The Warriors close out the regular season at home on February 22, at 3pm against visiting Bethesda University. The two teams met previously on January 8, with Nelson coming out victorious 97-82.

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