ATLANTA – The Regis College men's basketball team fell in the championship game of the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Tournament Monday night 73-69 over host Oglethorpe University. With the win, the Stormy Petrels improve to 3-6 on the year and the setback drops the Pride to 3-6 as well.
The Stormy Petrels built leads of 11 in the first half and 17 in the second and withstood runs of 16-2 and 18-3 from the visiting Pride to hang on for the 4-point victory. Ademola Afonja (Staten Island, N.Y.) tallied a career-best 20 points off the bench for the Crimson and Gold on 9-of-14 (64.3%) shooting and also snagged a team-best seven rebounds. Afonja was also named to the All-Tournament team along with Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) who scored 19 points and grabbed 6 boards.
The Petrels used a 29-9 run of their own early in the second half to build their 17-point edge. It was an advantage that allowed them to withstand a 6:12 scoreless stretch in the second half. Regis got the Oglethorpe lead down to two with just under three minutes remaining, but could not get any closer.
The Petrels were led by sophomore guard Chris Lawrence (Allton, Ill), who scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range. He earned tournament MVP honors for his efforts after scoring 16 points on 4-of-9 from three-point range in the 91-61 win over Mount St. Vincent Sunday night. Sophomore forward Will Perry (Alpharetta, Ga.) joined him with a spot on the All-Tournament Team. He recorded a double-double in both games and finished Monday's game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Justin Edwards (Queens, N.Y.) led all performers with six assists.
The Petrels clung to a 64-62 lead with three minutes remaining in the game, having not scored a point in over six minutes. However, Oglethorpe restored order down the stretch. They got a pair of clutch free throws from junior guard Connor Smith (Marietta, Ga.) with 2:47 remaining to break the streak. After an Afonja basket cut the lead back down to two, Smith made a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down, giving the home side a 69-64 lead with 53 seconds left. A Sam Jean-Gilles tip-in brought Regis within three with 30 seconds remaining, but Edwards, Lawrence and Smith hit free throws down the stretch and the Oglethorpe defense strung a couple of stops together in the final 30 seconds, securing the victory.
Oglethorpe looked as though they might run away with it early in the second half, building a 17-point lead, 61-44, with 12:21 remaining. However, the Pride had other ideas, embarking on their 18-3 run over the next 9:09 and cutting the Petrels' lead to just two. It came directly after the Petrels had built the lead with a 29-9 run of their own over the first 7:39 of the second half.
That Oglethorpe run started when they broke a Regis run to end the first half. Junior guard George Andino (Coral Springs, Fla.) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 35-35 headed into the halftime break. The Petrels had been up by 11 points, 30-19, with 5:23 remaining in the opening half of play. From that point, the Pride went on a 16-2 run over the next five minutes to briefly build a 35-32 lead with 24 seconds remaining before Andino tied the game at the end of the period.
Regis had a 9-6 edge with 14:20 remaining in the opening half, but the Petrels embarked on a 17-6 spurt to turn the game in their favor and build a 23-15 advantage with 8:55 remaining in the first. After a couple of Regis baskets, the Petrels ran off seven consecutive points over the next couple of minutes to push their lead out to 11, their largest of the half.
The Petrels shot 53 percent from the floor compared with 49 percent for the Pride. Both teams hit 33 percent of their 3-point attempts while the Petrels sank 63 percent of their free throws to 44 percent for Regis. The Pride outscored the Petrels 13-2 on the fast break and 32-16 off the bench, due largely to 20 bench points from Afonja.
Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.) added nine points, four assists and four rebounds in the loss while Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) tallied nine points off the pine on 3-of-7 shooting from downtown.
Regis returns to the hardwood in two weeks as they travel to Westfield Sate for a non-conference matchup on Saturday, January 2nd at 5:30 p.m.
Release Courtesy of Oglethorpe University Sports Information