WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Sophomore Chris Robitaille (Canton) sank two free throws with five minutes left to spark a game-ending 12-2 run that lifted the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University men’s basketball team to a 66-58 victory over No. 8 Regis College in the opening round of the 2011 ECAC New England Division III Tournament at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Robitaille’s first free throw created the 11th tie of the game and his second created the 18th and final lead change as Eastern (20-9) moved into the tournament semifinals against fourth-seeded Albertus Magnus College (18-10) Saturday at 5 p.m. at Geissler Gym. In Saturday’s second semifinal at Geissler Gym, sixth-seeded Brandeis University (17-9) faces seventh-seeded Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts at 7 p.m.
Eastern will host the Sunday championship game at 1 p.m. regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s semifinals.
Albertus Magnus went two overtimes to deny fifth-seeded Wentworth Institute of Technology, 96-95. Brandeis and MCLA upset higher seeds on the road, the Judges upending third-seeded Keene State College 84-77, and MCLA edging No. 2 Anna Maria College, 80-76.
In similar fashion to last year’s ECAC tournament opening win over Wentworth, Eastern was challenged by the tournament’s lowest seed. Eastern never trailed by more than two points but Regis (15-12) erased a nine-point deficit eight minutes into the game.
After missing six of their first 14 free throws in the game, the Warriors sank several clutch ones down the stretch. Robitaille made it 56-55 with a pair with five minutes left after being fouled rebounding a missed three-pointer, and sophomore guard Joe Ives (Avon) virtually put the game away with two more that made it 65-58 with 14 seconds left. In between, junior guard Nick Nedwick (Irvington, NY) hit a jumper, and after missing a free throw that would have made it a three-point play, he canned his third three-pointer of the night that pushed the lead to six, 61-56, with three minutes left.
Nedwick, ranked 16th all-time with 1,1137 career points, scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to help extend Eastern’s season at least one more game. Nedwick came up with one of the biggest defensive plays of the game when he stole the ball near the baseline and rushed the length of the floor for a layup (he was fouled on the play but missed the free throw) to give Eastern a three-point, 58-55 lead with 35.6 seconds left. He then tossed in his three-point after junior guard Jamie Kohn (Columbia) rebounded a Regis miss to make it a six-point Eastern lead with three minutes left.
Kohn (amassed his third double-double in the last four games and 11th this season with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Kohn had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half. He scored six points and senior forward Bill Roveto (South Windsor) grabbed all four of his rebounds in the first seven minutes to spark the Warriors to an early nine-point lead.
Regis scored the final five points of the first half , making it a two-point margin at halftime when freshman guard Ryan Chambers (Abington, MA) connected on a three-point field goal as time expired. Chambers shot his team into its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 32-31, in the opening minutes of the second half with another three-pointer.
Each team turned the ball over only eight times but missed a total of 12 of 32 free throws After clicking on four of nine three-pointers in the first half, Regis missed nine of 11 in the second half in its bid to advance in the tournament.
Freshman center Robert Edwards (Idaho Falls, ID) scored a team-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. Senior guard Darrin Kelly (South Dennis, MA) added 12 points (5-of-10 from the floor) and a team-high eight rebounds, and Chambers netted ten points, all nine of his points from the floor coming on three-pointers.