WESTON, Mass. – The Regis College men's basketball team rallied back from a huge first half hole, but couldn't finish the contest as they dropped their fifth straight decision 54-47 to Daniel Webster College on Saturday afternoon in a rematch of the 2014-15 New England Collegiate Conference Semifinals on Higgins Court. The setback drops the Crimson and Gold's record to 2-5, 0-2 NECC and the victory improves the Eagles to 4-2, 1-0 NECC.
Ademola Afonja (Staten Island, N.Y.) recorded his first ever double-double scoring a team-best 12 points off the bench and snagged a game-high 10 rebounds. Junior Rondell Best (Brockton, Mass.) led the way for the Eagles with a game-best 17 points on 7-of-11 (64%) shooting and a team-high nine boards.
Daniel Webster scored the first 12 points of the contest and built an early 12-0 advantage over the Pride using two three pointers one to start the Eagles run from Tevon Smallpiece (Dorchester, Mass.) and Jared Harrington (Upper Marlboro, Md.) on the bookend. Regis finally cracked the scoring column as Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.) found Ademola Afonja on the baseline and the freshman forward converted a jumper to give the Crimson and Gold their first points of the contest.
The Eagles scored the next seven points using more three balls before Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) made a layup. Regis would respond with a 15-2 run to turn a 19 point deficit to six. Afonja was the catalyst during the Regis run tallying eight of the 15 points including his third dunk of the season, a two handed jam after a steal by Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) to lead the Pride into the break, down 29-23.
Afonja scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half while Best added 10 of his 17 before the intermission.
DWC built up another double digit advantage early in the second half with Best making two layups and junior guard Ray Farmer (Nashua, N.H.) converting an old fashioned three-point play to put the Eagles up 11. Senior sharpshooter Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) checked into the game for the Pride and immediately became a factor. Keaton scored eight straight points, part of a 12-0 run burying three-pointers off screens including one that he banked off the glass. Keaton's hot shooting cut the Eagles lead to 44-41 with 6:50 to go.
Regis continued to decrease the DWC advantage as Jean-Gilles gobbled up a Keaton miss and went up strong to the hoop to make it a one point game with 4:46 to go. On the Prides' next possession Jeff Tagger Jr. gave Regis their only lead of the contest after he isolated a defender, drove the lane and made a scoop shot off the backboard. Regis' lead wouldn't last for long as Ray Farmer countered Tagger Jr. with a layup of his own to regain the advantage for the Eagles.
After a Michael Campbell (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) takeway, the Eagles called a timeout. Coach Morris Jr. drew up a play that proved to be the dagger. After the stoppage, Senior guard Ryan Gauthier (Nashua, N.H.) came off a screen and converted a wide open three ball with 1:24 to play with the fans making noise. Gauthier's three, gave the Eagles a six point, 51-45 lead and an advantage they would never relinquish.
Jeff Tagger Jr. filled up the stat sheet in the Pride loss, scoring nine points, snagging four rebounds, dishing out three assists and making two steals. Sam Jean-Gilles fouled out late in the contest and finished with nine points, six rebounds and two steals. Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) tallied five points and nine boards. Ray Farmer scored nine points and handed out four assists while Ryan Gauthier scored eight points off the bench and Shawn Fenton (South River, N.J.) tallied two points on 1-of-5 shooting and had three fouls in 10 minutes of play.
Regis returns to the hardwood in two weeks as they travel to Georgia to play Huntingdon on Sunday, December 20th at 4:00 p.m. in the Oglethorpe Holiday Tournament hosted by Oglethorpe University.