MIDDLETON, Mass. — Dylan Vrees started what he finished for the L/A Fighting Spirit on Sunday, putting the game away late in the third period for his second goal in a 4-2 NA3HL victory over the East Coast Minutemen at Essex Sports Center.

Vrees started the scoring midway through the first period, with assists from Jonathan Donaghey and JP Chauvin.

That 1-0 score stuck after one period, but the Minutemen fought back — twice. Eric Steeves tied the game eight minutes into the second, only for Donaghey to score on the power play less than two minutes later to give the Fighting Spirit the lead back.

Mike Lavoie knotted the game up again nine minutes into third, but Donaghey responded again just over two minutes later. Vrees sealed the L/A victory with 2:28 to play.

Walker Hamilton notched a pair of assists for the Fighting Spirit, while Phil Pistraya and Patrick Halpin also added helpers.

Tyler Friel made 33 saves in net for L/A, which sent 58 shots at East Coast goalie Dom Montecalvo.

Women’s college basketball

CMCC 95, Paul Smith’s College 18

AUBURN — Everything the Central Maine Community College women’s basketball team touched Sunday turned to gold, with the Mustangs showing complete dominance in a 95-18 victory over Paul Smith’s College of New York at Kirk Hall.

Jane Lester came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points for the Mustangs, while starter Tianna Harriman and reserve Samantha Burke added 14. All 14 players who entered the game for CMCC played double-digit minutes (Nicole Hamblin and Holly Decourcey each played a team-high 18 minutes) and everyone put their names in the scorebook. Twelve different players scored.

The Bobcats were out of it early, trailing 24-5 after one quarter. They scored just a single point in the second and accumulated half of their 18 points with the game already decided in the fourth quarter. They made just five field goals for the whole game.  Alexis Best had three of those and led Paul Smith’s College with nine points.

Men’s college basketball

CMCC 94, Paul Smith’s College 82

AUBURN — The Central Maine Community College men’s basketball team had two big runs in it on Sunday. One to give the Mustangs control of the game early, then another one late to put it away in a 94-82 victory over Paul Smith’s College (N.Y.) at Kirk Hall.

The score was tied 10-10 early in the first half when the Mustangs started a 14-0 spurt to give them a sizable lead. They kept that lead throughout, until the Bobcats tied the game at 77-all with 5:34 left in the second half. But the Mustangs responded with a 15-0 run to seize control for good.

Pietro Badalassi provided the go-ahead layup for CMCC, and he led the Mustangs with a game-high 25 points. Rob Skinner (15), Josh Cote (11) and Jonathan Moore (10) also scored in double digits for CMCC.

Elijah Pettis led Paul Smith’s College with 22 points.

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