WESTON, Mass. - Regis College came back from a 19-point deficit but was ultimately defeated by Colby-Sawyer, 72-70, Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action at Higgins Court.
Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) led all scorers with 23 points, earning the double-double with 10 rebounds. Zakaria Latifi (Holliston, Mass.) scored 16 points coming off the bench while Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Joshua Perez (Lynn, Mass.) hit a layup at the beginning of the second half to start the comeback for the Pride. Later in the half, Tate Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) scored two straight layups to pull the Pride within seven points of the visitors (59-52) with just over nine minutes remaining in regulation.
Harvey then hit a free throw with just under seven minutes remaining to jumpstart an 8-0 scoring run for the Pride, capped off by a three-point play by Harvey who managed to finish on a difficult layup. Another layup by Harvey and a score by Thompson cut the deficit to just two points (67-65) with under two minutes remaining on the clock.
Shortly after, Kevin Cummings knocked down a clutch three-pointer to give the visitors a five-point lead over the Pride (70-65) but a three-point play by Thompson and a layup by Latifi tied the score at 70 points apiece with 26 seconds left in regulation. After Colby-Sawyer missed a layup, Kadir Arca grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked down the go-ahead jumper for the Chargers, ending the hopes of a comeback for Regis.
Colby-Sawyer came out the gate on fire, knocking down four threes within the first four minutes of play to jump out to a 14-5 lead over the Pride. Consecutive layups by Harvey and a jumper by Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) cut the visitors' lead to just three points (14-11) but threes by Zack Caraballo and Cummings extended the Charger lead to ten points (26-16) with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half. After a driving layup by Latifi pulled the Pride within six (30-24) with just over six minutes remaining in the first, Colby-Sawyer finished out the half with a 15-2 run to take a 45-26 lead over Regis.
Terrence Harvey Jr. led Colby-Sawyer with 17 points while grabbing six rebounds and three steals. Cummings finished with 12 points while Omar Boone ended the game with 11 points and six rebounds.
Regis College (11-10, 7-7 GNAC) continues its stretch of home games hosting Lasell on Wednesday, February 8, beginning at 5:00 p.m. before finishing out its regular season home schedule with Senior Day against Albertus Magnus on Saturday, February 11, tip-off at 3:00 p.m. Colby-Sawyer next plays in a home contest against Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Monday, February 6, beginning at 7:30 p.m.