WESTON, Mass. – Regis College defeated Thomas College, 64-59, in men's basketball action in the opening game of the Moe's Queso Classic hosted by Regis College. The Pride improves to 4-0 on the year, while Thomas drops to 1-3.
Regis will take on the United States Coast Guard Academy tomorrow afternoon in the Championship game scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The Bears (2-1) defeated Framingham State University, 56-33, in the other game on Friday night. Thomas and Framingham State (2-1) will face-off in the Consolation game tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
The Pride raced out to an early 10-3 lead on baskets by Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.), Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.), and Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) and a pair of freethrows from Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.). Thomas' Levi Barnes (Skowhegan, Maine) kept the Terriers in the game, scoring the first 11 points for Thomas, including a trio of three-pointers, to make it a 14-11 game with 15:09 to play.
Barnes would cut the deficit to 16-15 with a baseline jumper, but Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) answered with a deep three to put the Pride back on top by four. Barnes responded with a triple of his own to keep Thomas within one, but a Jaiwon Martin (Coral Springs, Fla.) freethrow followed by a Heredia three gave the Pride a five point cushion at 23-18.
Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.) gave Regis a 27-20 lead, but Thomas continued to chip away, and a three from Eric Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland) got the Terriers back within one. The Pride turned up the defense and ended the half on an 11-2 run, including a Tagger Jr. layup at the buzzer, to take a 40-30 lead into the break.
Jean-Gilles led the Pride with nine points at the break, while Heredia added eight of his own. Barnes led Thomas with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, knocking down four triples in the period.
Thomas opened the second half on a 14-4 run and knotted the game at 44-all after a Westbrooks jumper. Levi Barnes scored 10 of the 14 points during the run with Justin Murray (Winslow, Maine) adding a pair of freethrows. Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) ended the run by banking home a jumper, but Barnes gave the Terriers their first lead of the game with a three on the other end to take a 47-46 lead with 14:15 to play.
Adam Carlsen (Rockport, Maine) extended the Thomas lead to 50-46 with a three of his own and the Pride faced their largest deficit of the game. Jordan Monts knocked down a pair of freethrows to make it a one possession game, and Peana scored on an inbound pass to tie the game at 50-all. The next time down, Peana knocked down a jumper to give the Pride a 52-50 lead.
Thomas forced their way back into the lead at the freethrow line as Mike Akanji (Lincoln, R.I.) and Levi Barnes went 5-for-6 at the charity stripe to take a 55-52 advantage with eight minutes to play.
Jean-Gilles scored a layup to make it a one point game and later tied the score with a freethrow as the game entered the final five minutes of regulation.
Justin Murray rattled home a runner to put Thomas back on top 57-55, but Jean-Gilles answered at the other end to knot the game back up. After a stop by the Pride, Jordan Monts connected on a jumper at the elbow to take the lead back with 4:35 to play, but Levi Barnes responded nearly a minute later to tie the game at 59-59.
On the Pride's next possession, Ethan Peana corralled an offensive rebound off a missed freethrow and laid it in for the 61-59 lead. Regis got a stop on the other end and took possession for the next 1:15 of game action as Monts and Jean-Gilles kept plays alive with offensive rebounds, helping whittle the clock down to 1:24 to play. After another Thomas miss, Monts and Jean-Gilles again each grabbed offensive rebounds on the Pride's next trip on offense before the Pride called timeout with 22 seconds remaining and the score still standing at 61-59.
Hector Heredia was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and calmly stepped the line and buried the two biggest freethrows of the game to make it a 63-59 lead. The Pride defense held strong again with another stop with under 10 seconds to play, and Monts would add one more freethrow for the final point as the Pride moved to 4-0 with the 64-59 win.
Regis dominated the glass in the game, holding a 44-28 edge with 21 offensive rebounds. Both teams committed 19 turnovers on the night. Regis held a 26-10 advantage in points in the paint, and had 16 second chance points.
Sam Jean-Gilles and Ethan Peana each posted 14 points to lead Regis, with Peana adding nine rebounds and Jean-Gilles adding six boards of his own. Jordan Monts finished the game with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go with three steals, while Heredia was the final player in double-digits for the Pride with 10 points, three assists, and a pair of steals.
Levi Barnes connected on 12-of-20 shots, including 6-of-10 threes, pouring in a game-high 35 points. Eric Westbrooks added nine points, while Ian King (Westbrook, Maine) had six assists and seven rebounds.