WESTON, Mass. – The Regis College men's basketball team fought off a pesky Newbury College squad to hang on for a 71-68 victory on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball action. The Pride improve to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the NECC, while Newbury falls to 1-10 and 0-3 in league games.
The Pride jumped out to an early 8-2 lead with Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) scoring four of the game's first eight points. Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Mass.) answered for the Nighthawks with a three, but the Pride rattled off a 6-0 run on baskets by Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.) and Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) and a pair of freethrows from Jean-Gilles to grab a 14-5 lead with 15:19 to play. Thompson buried another three on the next Newbury possession, and a fastbreak layup from the senior cut the deficit to 14-10 in less than 30 seconds of game time.
Following a pair of Peana freethrows, Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) checked into the game and buried a deep three to push the Pride lead to 19-10 and force a Newbury timeout. The Nighthawks chipped away, cutting the Regis lead to 26-20 after a three from Mills Carrasco (Haverhill, Mass.), but another Keaton three-ball followed by a fastbreak layup by the guard forced a Newbury timeout with 6:38 to play. The two teams traded baskets the rest of the half, including a Jaiwon Martin (Coral Springs, Fla.) layup with less than 10 seconds remaining, as the Pride took a 42-27 lead into the break.
Ethan Peana nearly had a double-double in the opening half, scoring nine points and grabbing nine boards. Tagger Jr., Jean-Gilles, and Keaton added eight points apiece, with Tagger Jr. recording six assists. Kwame Thompson led the Newbury attack with 13 points, while Kenny Ramos (Roxbury, Mass.) added six points of his own.
Newbury continued to fight its way back into the game, and a three from Carrasco made it a 44-36 game early in the second period. A quick 4-0 run from Regis pushed their lead back to double-digits, but Carrasco knocked down another open look from beyond the arc to keep it a 48-39 score.
The Regis lead would get as large as 14 points following a Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) driving layup, and the score remained that way at 61-47 following a three from Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.). Newbury used a 10-2 run over the next four minutes of play to clip the Regis lead to 63-57 to force a Pride timeout. Kwame Thompson scored six of the 10 points, while Carrasco and Ramos also added scores.
Sam Jean-Gilles stole the ensuing inbounds pass and fired it up court to Monts, who converted on the fastbreak, drawing a foul as well, and hit the freethrow to give Regis a 66-57 lead with 1:53 to play. As they had done all day, Newbury chipped away as a Ramos freebie followed by a three from Carrasco and an and-one layup by Kwame Thompson made it a one possession game at 67-64 as the game spilled into the final minute of action.
The next time down the floor for Regis, Jean-Gilles missed from the top of the key, but chased down his own miss, laying it in while getting fouled, and converted the three-point play to make it a 70-64 game. Ceejae Carter (Dorchester, Mass.) did the same on the Newbury side to cut the deficit to four, and Newbury was forced to foul. Hector Heredia calmly stepped to the line and knocked down 1-of-2 freethrows with five seconds remaining to keep it a five point game. Kwame Thompson knocked down a runner as time as expired to give the game its final score, 71-68.
Regis won the rebounding battle, 41-28, while Newbury committed only six turnovers to 10 for the Pride. Regis scored 36 points in the paint and had 17 second chance points on the day. The Pride shot 42.6% (23-of-54) from the floor, while Newbury was just as efficient, shooting 43.3% (26-of-60) from the field. Regis connected on 21-of-27 freethrows, with Newbury knocking down 9-of-14.
Sam Jean-Gilles led the Pride with 14 points and seven rebounds to go with three assists and a pair of steals. Ethan Peana recorded his first double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan Monts also scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Jeff Tagger Jr. had 10 points, four rebounds, and a game-high seven assists. Chris Keaton and Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) each scored eight points off the bench.
Kwame Thompson knocked down 12-of-21 shots on the day en route to a game-high 30 points to go with six rebounds. Mills Carrasco added 20 points, and hit five threes, to join him in double-digits. Kenny Ramos scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds for Newbury in the setback.
Both teams are back in action next week as Regis travels to Becker on Thursday night for an NECC matchup scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Newbury looks for their first win of 2015 on Tuesday night when they host Southern Vermont College at 7:00 p.m.