NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Regis College men's basketball team dropped a heart-breaker on Saturday afternoon at the hands of New England Collegiate Conference opponent, Mitchell College. The Mariners (17-7, 12-4 NECC) hit a layup as time expired to take a 70-68 win over the Pride and take a share of first place heading into the NECC Tournament next week.
The Pride (10-13 overall, 9-6 NECC) also qualified for the NECC Tournament and will play a First Round game on Tuesday, Feb. 25, with final seeding and match-ups being announced later this weekend by the conference.
Freshman Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) paced Regis with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and Osanto Marc Jr. (Kissimmee, Fla.) contributed 10 points and five boards while battling foul trouble. Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) had a strong game as well, finishing with a game-high 18 rebounds to go with nine points and six assists.
Senior Anthony Epps (Norwalk, Conn.) rebounded a Pride miss in the final seconds and dribbled the length of the court before releasing a layup that banked in as the game clock expired. On the previous Mitchell possession, senior Alex Del Rio (New Britain, Conn.) tied the game with a long three-pointer from the wing to set up the late-game dramatics.
Mitchell senior Joshua Ford (Jersey City, N.J.) led all scorers with 28 points and added 12 rebounds and six assists. Junior Parris Hill (Stockton, Calif.) recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds and also blocked five shots. Epps finished with 13 points while Del Rio chipped in with 11.
Neither side got into a rhythm in a first half that featured six ties but no lead changes. Ford netted 11 points to lead all scorers in the stanza, and Mitchell scored the final five points of the period to take a 32-25 lead at the break.
The Mariners pushed the lead to as many as eight in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Pride answered back with eight straight points to tie the contest at 38-38. Regis then took its first lead of the game on a layup by Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) with 14:14 remaining, and neither side led by more than five points the rest of the way.
Later in the game, Mitchell pulled ahead by one when Ford converted a jumper in the paint and was fouled. His free throw gave the Mariners a 60-59 lead with 4:17 to play.
Chambers put the Pride back on top with a three-pointer at the three-minute mark, and Marc later followed with a layup. Regis then took its largest lead of the game with 1:22 left when Jean-Gilles converted a pair of free throws to make it 67-62.
Mitchell came down the floor on the next possession and got a three from Del Rio to cut the deficit to two. Jean-Gilles then split a pair of freebies to bump the lead back to three, setting the stage for the game-tying three from Del Rio with 14 seconds to go.
Release courtesy of Mitchell Sports Information