WESTON, Mass. - After a close first half, Regis College picked up its offensive output in the second half to defeat Anna Maria College, 84-71, Thursday night in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball game at Higgins Court.
Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) notched his sixth double-double of the season with 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Zakaria Latifi (Holliston, Mass.) scored 15 points off the bench for the Pride. Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) shot 7-for-9 from the field in the first half as he scored 14 points, and Joshua Perez (Lynn, Mass.) contributed 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Perez scored five straight points early in the first half to give the Pride a 7-2 advantage, put Anna Maria put together its own 7-2 scoring run, including consecutive layups by Kennedy Minix-Rogers that put the visitors ahead, 16-15. The Pride responded with seven straight points, the first four coming from Harvey, as they held the lead throughout the rest of the opening half, taking a 33-32 advantage into halftime.
Anna Maria retook the lead at 42-40 early in the second half on a dunk by Deandre Wallace, but the Pride eventually pulled ahead for good on consecutive three-pointers by Rau and Latifi. The AMCATS closed to within one point on four different occasions later in the half, the last time at 65-64 after Trevian Grenon made a three-pointer with 6:34 left in regulation, but Regis closed out the game with a 16-5 scoring run in the final five minutes.
Grenon hit four three-pointers as he led the AMCATS with 22 points, while Gabe Armstead notched his own double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Minix-Rogers finished with 12 points, four rebounds, eight assists, and three steals.
As a team, Anna Maria shot 39.4 percent (26-for-66) from the field and 82.4 percent (14-for-17) from the free throw line. On the other side, Regis shot 53.6 percent (30-for-56) from the field, its first game with a field goal percentage above 50 percent since Nov. 29 against Lesley. The Pride also won the rebounding battle, 42-30, and played tough defense as Anna Maria scored only 12 points off 17 Regis turnovers.
Regis College (11-9, 7-6 GNAC) hosts Colby-Sawyer College Saturday, Feb. 4, beginning at 3 p.m. at Higgins Court. Anna Maria (4-16, 3-9 GNAC) hosts Lasell Saturday starting at 12 p.m.