WESTON, Mass. – Regis College used its defense to take the lead, but Framingham State settled down and maintained possession in the second half while continuing to shoot the ball well, leading to an 87-77 victory for the Rams over the Pride Tuesday night in a non-conference men's collegiate basketball game at Higgins Court.
Cam Wilkins (Taunton, Mass.) shot 11-of-12 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line to lead all players with 28 points, while Marc Trinidad (Bronx, N.Y.) finished with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three blocked shots. Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) collected 10 points, three rebounds, and four assists, and the Pride also received two three-pointers apiece from Dimitri Rosa (Tiverton, R.I.) and Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.).
Framingham State took a 6-1 lead three minutes into the contest before Regis scored the next five points to tie the game at 6-6. James Purcell (Leominster, Mass.) made two layups as the Rams scored the next six points, but the Pride answered with seven unanswered points, capped by a traditional three-point play from Thompson to pull ahead, 13-12.
The game continued to go back and forth in the first half, as the vast majority of the seven ties and 12 lead changes came before halftime. After a layup by Tajahn Joyner (Amherst, Mass.) tied the game at 35-35 with just over a minute remaining in the half, Wilkins converted on a traditional three-point play, and then he answered a layup by Purcell with one of his own to give Regis a 40-37 advantage at halftime.
Regis opened the second half with a 9-4 scoring stretch, capped by a three-pointer from Rosa to give the Pride their biggest lead of the night at 49-41. The Rams rallied, putting together a 10-2 scoring run to tie the game at 51-51 with 13:42 left in the second half.
The Pride went back on top thanks to consecutive layups by Wilkins and Trinidad, but the Rams quickly responded with 10 straight points to open a 65-59 advantage. Regis closed to within three on two different occasions, but Framingham State eventually scored six unanswered points to extend its lead to nine at 77-68, and the two teams basically traded points the rest of the way.
Five players reached double figures in scoring for the Rams, led by Purcell with 17 points and Cameren McCloud-Thomas (Springfield, Mass.) with 16 points, both on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Jared Gordon-Anderson (Framingham, Mass.) and Joyner earned 14 points apiece, and Tyri Hampton (Fitchburg, Mass.) added 11 points and six rebounds.
As a team, Framingham State shot 60.3 percent (35-of-58) from the field and 63 percent (17-of-27) from the free throw line. The Rams won the rebounding battle, 36-30, and committed only four turnovers in the second half after giving up the ball 13 times in the first half.
The Pride shot 47 percent (31-of-66) from the field, including 5-of-20 from behind the three-point line, and 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from the free throw line. After committing just six turnovers in the first half, Regis was saddled with 11 second half turnovers.
Regis (1-4) heads to Providence, R.I., to face the Anchormen of Rhode Island College Sunday, Dec. 1, for a 5 p.m. tipoff. Framingham State (1-7) will have over a week before its next game, traveling to take on Pine Manor Wednesday, Dec. 4, beginning at 7 p.m.