CHICOPEE, Mass. – Regis College's Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) canned four treys to lead four players in double figures as the third-seeded Pride downed No. 2 Newbury College, 66-59 in overtime in Friday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball Semifinals. The Pride advance to their first-ever NECC Championship game with the win.
Regis improves to 13-14 on the season and will play No. 1 Elms College in the tournament title game. The Blazers knocked off fourth-seeded Mitchell College, 80-78 in the other semifinal contest. Newbury concludes its season with a 14-12 overall record.
Chambers was efficient with his shooting, hitting on 5-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-7 from three-point range as the Pride shot 35.6-percent from the field. Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) scored 13 points and Ahmad Charles (Cambridge, Mass.) and Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in 12 points each in the winning effort.
Evin Matted (Hartford, Conn.) totaled a team-high 11 rebounds and Charles pulled down eight boards for Regis, while Peana finished with four assists.
Newbury's Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) was stellar in defeat, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) led the Nighthawks with 15 points and added six boards, Milciades Carrasco (Haverhill, Mass.) drained four treys and scored 12 points, and Steve Rosemond (Everett, Mass.) notched 11 boards in addition to his nine points.
Newbury was limited to just 30.0-percent shooting from the field and its reserves were outscored 14-5.
With the score set at 51-51 with just 3:10 left in regulation, Peterson put the Nighthawks ahead, 53-51 when he pulled down the team's third offensive rebound of the possession with 3:07 to play in the contest.
Chambers responded for the Pride just 17 seconds later when he struck from beyond the arc to give Regis a slim 54-53 edge with 2:50 to play in the contest.
After neither team was able to score for the next 1:45, Newbury's Eric Watson (New Rochelle, N.Y.) hit the front end of two free throws to even the game at 54-54 with 1:15 on the clock. From there, neither team converted the go-ahead basket in regulation which forced a five-minute period of extra time.
In the overtime frame, after both teams traded layups, Chambers hit two free throws, Bermudez-Glean and Charles added a jump shot as the Pride took a 62-56 lead with 21 seconds remaining. Carrasco then answered with a three-pointer to pull the Nighthawks to within three at 62-59.
Bermudez-Glean sealed the win swishing four straight free throws to help Regis seal the 66-59 win.
Release courtesy of Elms Sports Information